Cefalù Cathedral
the chystro

Squaring the circle

Entering the cloister of Cefalù Cathedral not only means plunging into a path steeped in medieval art that seems to reawaken the different decorative motifs animating the capitals of the columns as we pass, but also being pervaded by an architecture of light.
In accordance with Christian symbolism, it is oriented so that each of its spaces is illuminated in a different way, following the orientation of the sun.
Following its itinerary, made up of the transcendence of the circle inserted in the immanence of the square, we are invited to embark on a spiritual journey of purification that begins where the light sets, symbolically linked to Adam and the Old Testament, and then reaches the New Testament dimension, pervaded by the radiance of the incarnation and the promise. Even the plants arranged in the garden have always represented an ascetic message, capable of enveloping those who walk through it in a sense of theophany that unfolds along the way.

The Bible carved in stone

The king’s mark

The chystro: a place between earth and sky

Beyond the harmony of proportions

A remarkable ceiling

The Gualtiero Cathedral

The Chapel of the Kings

Two initially similar towers, varied over time

Porphyry sarcophagi: royalty and power

The original design

A mixture of styles pervades the floor decorations

The cemetery of kings

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

The cultural substrate through time

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

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

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

The mosaics of the presbytery

The senses tell Context 1

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

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

The dialogue between the architectures of the monumental complex

A space between the visible and the invisible

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

The Great Restoration

Survey of the royal tombs

The beginning of the construction site

A cloister of accentuated stylistic variety

Gardens and architecture as a backdrop to the city of Palermo

The balance between architecture and light

A tree full of life

The Kings’ Cathedrals

The medieval city amidst monasticism and feudal aristocracy

The southern portico

A controversial interpretation

The side aisles

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

Norman religious architecture with islamic influences in Sicily

The Great Presbytery: a unique space for the cathedral

Roger II of hauteville: a sovereign protected by God

The Virgin Hodegetria

The stone bible

A polysemy of high-level artistic forms and content

Cefalù: settlement evidence through time

A new Cathedral

The chorus: beating heart of the cathedral

The transformations of the hall through the centuries

The construction of Monreale Cathedral: between myth and history

A palimpsest of history

Roger II’s strategic design

Palermo: the happiest city

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

The lost chapel

Under the crosses of the Bema

The mosaics of the apses

The rediscovered chapel

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

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

The area of the Sanctuary

The towers and the western facade

Interior decorations

The chapel of san Castrense: an important renaissance work

Mosaic decoration

The longest aisle

Artistic elements in Peter’s ship

The liturgical spaces of the protesis and the diaconicon

The Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene

Layers of different cultures decorate the external apses

Worship services

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

The chapel of St. Benedict

Characteristics of religious architecture in the romanesque period

The towers facing the facade used as bell towers

A Northern population

A chapel by an unknown designer based on repeated symmetries

Squaring the circle

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

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

From the Mosque to the Cathedral

The Cathedral over the centuries

The decorated facade

Ecclesia munita

Transformations over the centuries