Cefalù Cathedral
context 3

The senses tell the context 3

sight
A majestic rock mass

The Cefalù Cathedral stands out on a terrace perched on the imposing rock mass stretching out towards the sea and embraced by the jagged peaks of the Sicilian Apennines between the Nebrodi and Madonie mountains. If we look at the rest of the landscape, a sequence of silhouettes comes to life, built at different times and hierarchically dependent on the cathedral. These include the cloister, the bishop’s palace, the seminary with its adjoining courtyard and the Turniale, which dates from a later period, and are distributed along the northern side of the church. The latter appears as a large embankment functioning as a churchyard, also used as a burial place.

Beyond the harmony of proportions

Artistic elements in Peter’s ship

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

Gardens and architecture as a backdrop to the city of Palermo

Layers of different cultures decorate the external apses

A chapel by an unknown designer based on repeated symmetries

The Gualtiero Cathedral

A Northern population

Survey of the royal tombs

The towers and the western facade

The Bible carved in stone

A remarkable ceiling

The medieval city amidst monasticism and feudal aristocracy

The senses tell Context 1

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

A polysemy of high-level artistic forms and content

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

Roger II of hauteville: a sovereign protected by God

The balance between architecture and light

Squaring the circle

The towers facing the facade used as bell towers

The chapel of St. Benedict

The Kings’ Cathedrals

The liturgical spaces of the protesis and the diaconicon

The chystro: a place between earth and sky

Worship services

The Great Restoration

The lost chapel

The longest aisle

Ecclesia munita

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

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

The area of the Sanctuary

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

The Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene

The chapel of san Castrense: an important renaissance work

A controversial interpretation

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

Palermo: the happiest city

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

The dialogue between the architectures of the monumental complex

The side aisles

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

The rediscovered chapel

The original design

Under the crosses of the Bema

The beginning of the construction site

Roger II’s strategic design

The cemetery of kings

The stone bible

Porphyry sarcophagi: royalty and power

A new Cathedral

The mosaics of the presbytery

Mosaic decoration

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

The decorated facade

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

A mixture of styles pervades the floor decorations

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

The Cathedral over the centuries

The Chapel of the Kings

The king’s mark

The chorus: beating heart of the cathedral

Transformations over the centuries

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

Interior decorations

Cefalù: settlement evidence through time

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

A tree full of life

A space between the visible and the invisible

A cloister of accentuated stylistic variety

Characteristics of religious architecture in the romanesque period

A palimpsest of history

The southern portico

Norman religious architecture with islamic influences in Sicily

Two initially similar towers, varied over time

The construction of Monreale Cathedral: between myth and history

From the Mosque to the Cathedral

The transformations of the hall through the centuries

The Great Presbytery: a unique space for the cathedral

The Virgin Hodegetria

The mosaics of the apses

The cultural substrate through time