The crypt, from the Latin crypta meaning hidden, is an underground space, usually located under the floor of the presbytery, where the relics of saints or the tombs of eminent figures were kept. The crypt was more common in churches of the early medieval period when it was also used as a small chape...

The crypt, from the Latin crypta meaning hidden, is an underground space, usually located under the floor of the presbytery, where the relics of saints or the tombs of eminent figures were kept. The crypt was more common in churches of the early medieval period when it was also used as a small chape...

The location of the tombs was originally in the area known as the "Cemetery of the Bishops", on the left side of the Presbytery of the Cathedral, where on the opposite side stood the "Cemetery of the Kings". Its current location is the result of a number of transformations which begun in the last de...

The Great Presbytery can be divided into three parts: the Presbytery itself, which is the part next to the hall of the faithful. The Anti-Presbytery and the Post-Presbytery. The Great Presbytery, the area surrounding the high altar where the presbyters are seated to worship, is composed of a double ...

The Great Presbytery can be divided into three parts: the Presbytery itself, which is the part next to the hall of the faithful. The Anti-Presbytery and the Post-Presbytery. The Great Presbytery, the area surrounding the high altar where the presbyters are seated to worship, is composed of a double ...

The Titulus of Palermo Cathedral was the space located at the end of the nave and before the main apse, where the Canons Regular took their seats in the choir and which contained both the bishop's chair and the royal seat. The sacristies of the Canons and Benefactors were located on the southern fro...

The Chapel of the Royal Tombs, inside the Palermo Cathedral, houses the tombs of the Norman Roger II, first king of Sicily, Constance of Hauteville and Henry VI of Swabia and their son Frederick II, together with his first wife Constance of Aragon. Four sarcophagi are placed in corresponding areas o...

The Astronomical Observatory in the Royal Palace of Palermo was founded by Ferdinand I of Bourbon (Ferdinand III of Sicily) in 1790 and entrusted to the astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi. The Observatory was notable for being equipped with state-of-the-art instruments such as the Ramsden Circle, made by Je...

Born in Ponte in Valtellina in 1746, Giuseppe Piazzi entered the Theatine Order in 1764 and was ordained as a priest in 1769. He taught philosophy in Genoa, mathematics in Malta, and dogmatic theology in Rome. In 1781, he joined the Royal Academy of Studies in Palermo to teach calculus. He then taug...

The sundial in Palermo Cathedral was also intended to give the city a new, fairly simple and precise instrument for measuring time according to the “European” method. In the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, but also in many Italian states, the “Italian” method was used, in which the day was divi...