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.

Porphyry sarcophagi: royalty and power

The rediscovered chapel

A remarkable ceiling

The construction of Monreale Cathedral: between myth and history

The Great Presbytery: a unique space for the cathedral

The cultural substrate through time

The medieval city amidst monasticism and feudal aristocracy

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

The side aisles

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

From the Mosque to the Cathedral

A chapel by an unknown designer based on repeated symmetries

A polysemy of high-level artistic forms and content

Survey of the royal tombs

The cemetery of kings

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

Transformations over the centuries

A Northern population

Characteristics of religious architecture in the romanesque period

The balance between architecture and light

The lost chapel

The Bible carved in stone

The southern portico

Gardens and architecture as a backdrop to the city of Palermo

A tree full of life

Cefalù: settlement evidence through time

Ecclesia munita

Mosaic decoration

The chystro: a place between earth and sky

The decorated facade

A controversial interpretation

The mosaics of the apses

The king’s mark

Norman religious architecture with islamic influences in Sicily

The towers facing the facade used as bell towers

The Cathedral over the centuries

Under the crosses of the Bema

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

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

Roger II of hauteville: a sovereign protected by God

A mixture of styles pervades the floor decorations

The Gualtiero Cathedral

The Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene

The area of the Sanctuary

The Kings’ Cathedrals

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

The stone bible

The mosaics of the presbytery

Interior decorations

The Great Restoration

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

Roger II’s strategic design

A new Cathedral

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

The senses tell Context 1

The longest aisle

The Chapel of the Kings

A space between the visible and the invisible

The chapel of St. Benedict

Artistic elements in Peter’s ship

The towers and the western facade

A palimpsest of history

The dialogue between the architectures of the monumental complex

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

The transformations of the hall through the centuries

Two initially similar towers, varied over time

Beyond the harmony of proportions

Palermo: the happiest city

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

A cloister of accentuated stylistic variety

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

The Virgin Hodegetria

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

The beginning of the construction site

Squaring the circle

The chorus: beating heart of the cathedral

Worship services

The original design

The liturgical spaces of the protesis and the diaconicon

The chapel of san Castrense: an important renaissance work

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

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

Layers of different cultures decorate the external apses