Palermo Cathedral
St. Mary Magdalene

A controversial interpretation

This document, written by Gualtiero, was mistranslated in the past, leading to errors made by later historiographers and scholars who interpreted the chapel as having been demolished, failing to identify its exact location. A careful reading and translation of the above-mentioned petition shows that Gualtiero was not asking the King for permission to demolish the Chapel, but to grant it to the Clerics of the Cathedral and their liturgical services. At the same time, he wanted to be able to move the mortal remains of the nobles of the royal family which were kept there to another place, by building a new chapel dedicated to Mary Magdalene. It should also be noted that the document is dated 1187, the 21st year of William II's reign , when the work of transforming the church had already been completed. It was reopened for worship on 6 April 1185, with a solemn consecration ceremony dedicated to the Blessed Virgin of the Assumption . The thesis that supported the belief in the chapel’s demolition was also based on a presumed rebuilding ab fundamentis of the Gualtierina Cathedral, shifting it a few metres from its former location as a former mosque and Byzantine basilica to the southern front.

Roger II of hauteville: a sovereign protected by God

A mixture of styles pervades the floor decorations

A controversial interpretation

The cemetery of kings

The liturgical spaces of the protesis and the diaconicon

The chorus: beating heart of the cathedral

Layers of different cultures decorate the external apses

The Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene

A space between the visible and the invisible

The Great Presbytery: a unique space for the cathedral

The stone bible

Gardens and architecture as a backdrop to the city of Palermo

A tree full of life

Worship services

The side aisles

A chapel by an unknown designer based on repeated symmetries

Ecclesia munita

Transformations over the centuries

The Virgin Hodegetria

The king’s mark

The area of the Sanctuary

Interior decorations

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

Mosaic decoration

The senses tell Context 1

A palimpsest of history

Characteristics of religious architecture in the romanesque period

A new Cathedral

From the Mosque to the Cathedral

A remarkable ceiling

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

Palermo: the happiest city

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

The dialogue between the architectures of the monumental complex

The mosaics of the apses

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

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

The chystro: a place between earth and sky

The decorated facade

Under the crosses of the Bema

The Great Restoration

A polysemy of high-level artistic forms and content

Norman religious architecture with islamic influences in Sicily

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

The lost chapel

The southern portico

Squaring the circle

The chapel of san Castrense: an important renaissance work

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

A cloister of accentuated stylistic variety

The Gualtiero Cathedral

Beyond the harmony of proportions

The chapel of St. Benedict

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

The original design

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

The medieval city amidst monasticism and feudal aristocracy

The Cathedral over the centuries

Porphyry sarcophagi: royalty and power

The beginning of the construction site

The Chapel of the Kings

The rediscovered chapel

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

The Kings’ Cathedrals

The Bible carved in stone

Survey of the royal tombs

Roger II’s strategic design

The transformations of the hall through the centuries

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

A Northern population

The construction of Monreale Cathedral: between myth and history

Artistic elements in Peter’s ship

The mosaics of the presbytery

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

The balance between architecture and light

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

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

Two initially similar towers, varied over time

The towers facing the facade used as bell towers

The longest aisle

Cefalù: settlement evidence through time

The towers and the western facade

The cultural substrate through time