The octagonal drum of the dome depicts eight prophets, Isaiah, David, Moses, Zechariah, Daniel, Elisha, Elijah and Jeremiah. Interspersed with windows, they have their feet firmly planted in the eight pendentives, with their right hand in an act of adoration and their left clutching the scroll of pr...

Typical of rustic work, rustication were also used in ancient times by the Romans. Its application, also thanks to Leon Battista Alberti, reached its peak in the Renaissance period, used in buildings and as a decorative element in churches and palaces. Poorly finished and polished, deliberately left...

The Benedictine Abbey of Mont Saint-Michel, located on the rocky islet of Mont Saint-Michel in Normandy, was built starting in the 10th century and was dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel. The main feature of the complex is its close relationship with the sea, so much so that it seems to be almos...

After the restoration work that lasted for most of the 19th century, following the 1811 fire, major restoration campaigns have been carried out in recent decades: in the 1920s; in 1979 led by the architect Trizzino, and guided by the Superintendency of Cultural and Environmental Heritage of Palermo....

According to recent studies, the cloister’s twin capitals on double columns, an example of Romanesque sculpture with international appeal, are attributable, for the most part, to a Provençal sculptor known as the "master of cherubs". The magister who worked in the Cefalù Cathedral around 1160, a...

Theophany from the Greek theophàneia, meaning “the manifestation of God”, refers to the tangible manifestation of the divinity. In the Christian religion, episodes of theophany are present both in the Old Testament, where the apparitions are rich in descriptive detail. They are also present in ...

The central courtyard of the cloister is canonically defined as a garden, in which no flower essences are planted because they are deciduous; instead, the flowers are sculpted in the capitals, in the eternal nature of the stone. The garden, according to tradition, is divided into four parts where f...

The Cefalù Cathedral mosaic decoration extends over the surface of the apse, the cross vault and the walls below. The mosaics were probably made in three different phases: they began in 1148 with the apse and the cross vault, and then in the following years they moved on to the walls. The Byzantin...

In 395, Emperor Theodosius divided the empire into two parts: a Western part with Rome as its capital and an Eastern part with Constantinople as its capital. Over time, the division also affected the economy, language, art and religion. The Patriarch of Constantinople wanted to express his thoughts ...

Byzantine art, which was developed from the 4th to the 16th century A.D., is characterised by a style that takes Hellenistic-Roman art and enriches it with oriental stylistic elements, typical of Asia Minor. If architecture has majestic and solemn churches, usually in the shape of a Greek cross, fig...