Palermo Cathedral
The Context 2

The Gualtiero Cathedral

The cathedral remained unchanged in its structure for almost a hundred years after the arrival of the Normans. During the reign of William II , grandson of Roger II , the church was restored and designed as an ecclesia munita from 1170 onwards,at the behest of Archbishop Gualtiero , a Proto family member of the King. The Cathedral was reopened for worship on April 6, 1185, with a lavish ceremony.
It is probable that the decision to renovate the sacred building was made not only to provide the city with a temple worthy of the kingdom’s capital, but also because of the damage caused to the church by the seismic event of 4 February 1169, known as the “ earthquake of Sant'Agata “, which caused extensive ruin throughout most of Sicily. Palermo Cathedral was rebuilt at the same time as the construction of the Monreale Cathedral, commissioned by William II, as part of his plans to govern the territory by creating emblematic places of worship.
For both sacred buildings, records tell the story of the discovery of a treasure, the one found by the Virgin Mary, who came to William in a dream to facilitate the construction of the Monreale Cathedral, and the one found during the construction of the church of the Holy Spirit , for the renovation of the church in Palermo.

A mixture of styles pervades the floor decorations

The area of the Sanctuary

The senses tell Context 1

The marble portal: an intimate dialogue between complex ornamental aspects and formal structure

A controversial interpretation

The architectural modifications ti the cathedral building after the death of Roger II and the transformations of the cloister

Porphyry sarcophagi: royalty and power

Squaring the circle

Layers of different cultures decorate the external apses

The rediscovered chapel

The stone bible

The decorated facade

Survey of the royal tombs

The construction of Monreale Cathedral: between myth and history

The Gualtiero Cathedral

The liturgical spaces of the protesis and the diaconicon

The original design

A palimpsest of history

The plasticism of the main portico and Bonanno Pisano’s Monumental Bronze Door

Cefalù: settlement evidence through time

A new Cathedral

Artistic elements in Peter’s ship

Transformations over the centuries

The balance between architecture and light

The side aisles

Biblical themes enlivened by the dazzling light of the stained – glass windows overlooking the naves

The Kings’ Cathedrals

A remarkable ceiling

The king’s mark

The links between the hauteville family and the monastic orders in Sicily

Characteristics of religious architecture in the romanesque period

The dialogue between the architectures of the monumental complex

Tempus fugit: a strategic project implemented in a short period of time

The cemetery of kings

The beginning of the construction site

Mosaic decoration

Roger II of hauteville: a sovereign protected by God

The cultural substrate through time

The chapel of san Castrense: an important renaissance work

The southern portico

From the main gate to the aisles: an invitation to a journey of faith

The chapel of St. Benedict

The Bible carved in stone

Gardens and architecture as a backdrop to the city of Palermo

A polysemy of high-level artistic forms and content

A Northern population

The chystro: a place between earth and sky

The chapel of the crucifix: an artistic casket based on a previous model

The Virgin Hodegetria

Norman religious architecture with islamic influences in Sicily

The chorus: beating heart of the cathedral

A tree full of life

A chapel by an unknown designer based on repeated symmetries

The towers and the western facade

The mosaics of the apses

The medieval city amidst monasticism and feudal aristocracy

Palermo: the happiest city

The transformations of the hall through the centuries

The Cefalù cathedral: a construction yard undergoing a change between a surge of faith and control over the territory

Two initially similar towers, varied over time

A cloister of accentuated stylistic variety

A space between the visible and the invisible

Worship services

The lost chapel

The columns of the nave: the meticulous study of the overall order

The longest aisle

The Great Restoration

The Chapel of the Kings

From the Mosque to the Cathedral

A compositional design that combines nordic examples with new artistic languages, over the centuries

Ecclesia munita

The paradisiacal “Conca d’oro” that embraces Palermo: a name with countless faces through time

Roger II’s strategic design

The Great Presbytery: a unique space for the cathedral

The towers facing the facade used as bell towers

The mosaics of the presbytery

Interior decorations

Under the crosses of the Bema

Thirteenth-century iconography decorates the nave’s wooden ceiling, designed with new solutions

Beyond the harmony of proportions

The Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene

The Cathedral over the centuries

The side Portico: a combination of elegance and lightness of form