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.

A mixture of styles pervades the floor decorations

Cefalù: settlement evidence through time

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

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

Artistic elements in Peter’s ship

The Great Restoration

The Chapel of the Kings

The Great Presbytery: a unique space for the cathedral

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

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

Gardens and architecture as a backdrop to the city of Palermo

Beyond the harmony of proportions

Palermo: the happiest city

The towers facing the facade used as bell towers

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

The Bible carved in stone

The mosaics of the presbytery

The longest aisle

The Virgin Hodegetria

A polysemy of high-level artistic forms and content

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

Norman religious architecture with islamic influences in Sicily

The stone bible

Two initially similar towers, varied over time

The construction of Monreale Cathedral: between myth and history

A controversial interpretation

Roger II of hauteville: a sovereign protected by God

The lost chapel

Worship services

The chapel of san Castrense: an important renaissance work

The towers and the western facade

The cultural substrate through time

Porphyry sarcophagi: royalty and power

Characteristics of religious architecture in the romanesque period

The dialogue between the architectures of the monumental complex

The chorus: beating heart of the cathedral

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

The transformations of the hall through the centuries

A chapel by an unknown designer based on repeated symmetries

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

The chapel of St. Benedict

The rediscovered chapel

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

The original design

The liturgical spaces of the protesis and the diaconicon

The senses tell Context 1

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

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

The Gualtiero Cathedral

The decorated facade

A cloister of accentuated stylistic variety

The area of the Sanctuary

The medieval city amidst monasticism and feudal aristocracy

The king’s mark

The side aisles

The Kings’ Cathedrals

From the Mosque to the Cathedral

Under the crosses of the Bema

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

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

The cemetery of kings

The balance between architecture and light

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

A space between the visible and the invisible

The chystro: a place between earth and sky

The Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene

A palimpsest of history

Mosaic decoration

A remarkable ceiling

Ecclesia munita

Interior decorations

Survey of the royal tombs

A Northern population

Roger II’s strategic design

Layers of different cultures decorate the external apses

The beginning of the construction site

A tree full of life

Squaring the circle

A new Cathedral

The Cathedral over the centuries

Transformations over the centuries

The mosaics of the apses

The southern portico