Apses and transept
Cefalù Cathedral

The liturgical spaces of the protesis and the diaconicon

The medieval church had the apse area as its only liturgical space. In smaller religious buildings, the apse had two small lateral service rooms for the safekeeping of sacred books and preparing the liturgy. In larger churches and cathedrals, these areas were enlarged, as in the case of the Cefalù Cathedral, through the construction of two apses mirroring the central one. Thus, in liturgical practice, the apse of the Prothesis and that of the Diaconicon took shape.
The first contained the liturgical objects intended for the offertory and the Eucharist, while the second was furnished with cabinets containing the vestments of the officiants and the sacred books. In the following centuries, the two minor apses lost their original function, becoming side chapels with altars and votive decorations.
The Prothesis apse retained its original function to a certain extent, being transformed into the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament , the place where the Eucharist and the sacred objects intended for the rite were kept. This change, with the overlapping Baroque decorations, also affected Cefalù Cathedral, which still has traces of it in the Cefalù chapel.
The Diaconicon apse, on the other hand, underwent profound changes in the early 20th century.
The finishes added in the 18th century were destroyed, with the unfulfilled hope of uncovering original mosaic ornamentation that was never actually made.
The masonry, devoid of any decoration, and the careless removal of part of the plaster, revealed the presence of a room built at the same time as the building, which must have connected the Diaconicon apse with the presbyteral space , used as a royal matroneum .

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

Beyond the harmony of proportions

The medieval city amidst monasticism and feudal aristocracy

The construction of Monreale Cathedral: between myth and history

Artistic elements in Peter’s ship

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

Survey of the royal tombs

The transformations of the hall through the centuries

A cloister of accentuated stylistic variety

The rediscovered chapel

The liturgical spaces of the protesis and the diaconicon

The beginning of the construction site

The senses tell Context 1

Two initially similar towers, varied over time

The chapel of san Castrense: an important renaissance work

The decorated facade

Porphyry sarcophagi: royalty and power

From the Mosque to the Cathedral

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

Norman religious architecture with islamic influences in Sicily

The towers and the western facade

The Kings’ Cathedrals

A Northern population

Under the crosses of the Bema

The Bible carved in stone

Mosaic decoration

The Chapel of the Kings

Layers of different cultures decorate the external apses

Gardens and architecture as a backdrop to the city of Palermo

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

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

Palermo: the happiest city

A palimpsest of history

Squaring the circle

The king’s mark

A space between the visible and the invisible

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

Cefalù: settlement evidence through time

The chorus: beating heart of the cathedral

A remarkable ceiling

The longest aisle

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

Roger II of hauteville: a sovereign protected by God

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

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

The chystro: a place between earth and sky

The mosaics of the apses

A tree full of life

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

Worship services

The Great Presbytery: a unique space for the cathedral

The balance between architecture and light

Transformations over the centuries

The chapel of St. Benedict

The Virgin Hodegetria

The Great Restoration

The cemetery of kings

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

Roger II’s strategic design

Interior decorations

A new Cathedral

The southern portico

A mixture of styles pervades the floor decorations

Characteristics of religious architecture in the romanesque period

The towers facing the facade used as bell towers

The Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene

The cultural substrate through time

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

The side aisles

The Gualtiero Cathedral

The stone bible

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

The Cathedral over the centuries

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

A chapel by an unknown designer based on repeated symmetries

A polysemy of high-level artistic forms and content

Ecclesia munita

The original design

The area of the Sanctuary

The lost chapel

The dialogue between the architectures of the monumental complex

A controversial interpretation

The mosaics of the presbytery