The Ventimiglia family owned a family chapel in the Cefalù Cathedral, which is also mentioned in Francis II’s 1386 will. In these documents, Francis II not only instructs his successors on how to maintain the chapel’s jurisdiction, but also orders his heirs to be buried in that sacred place. Th...

Stylistic transformations have also affected the Cathedrals of Palermo and Catania over the centuries. In Palermo, it was Archbishop Filangeri who entrusted theproject of consolidation and restoration to the royal architect Ferdinando Fuga in 1767. The works that were carried out from 1781 to 1801 w...

The Cefalù Cathedral’s stained-glass windows are contemporary, created in the 1980s by Palermo artist Michele Canzoneri. There are seventy-two of them: the stained-glass window on the western façade depicts the Last Judgement, those in the nave are dedicated to the Creation and, laterally, to th...

In Christian worship, the altar represents the Lord’s table, where gifts are offered, where God is thanked and where the rite of Holy Mass is celebrated. In particular, it has vital importance because this is where the sacrifice of Christ for his people is re-enacted, which is why it is also sprin...

Parousia, from the Greek παρουσία, meaning presence, indicates not only the presence of Christ but also his return at the end of time. The Parousia is present in the preaching and letters of St. Paul, in the Acts of the Apostles, in the Apocalypse of St. John, Apostle and Evangelist....

The entrance into the Cathedral symbolised the path of purification: abandoning material and earthly goods and the sinful life to reach the light of salvation. The very path that leads from the staircase to the marvel of the mosaics, as in the case of Cefalù, represents the journey from the world o...

In the Latin cross plan, the nave and transept are of different lengths, while in the Greek cross layout the “arms” are equal in length. The transept, in fact, intersecting the longitudinal nave at right angles, gives the church its classic layout. The point of intersection, called the cross, is...

The apsidal basin is located in the apse and is set up as a semi-cylindrical vertical wall. It is distinguished from the apsidal dome which is shaped like a semi-dome. In Cefalù’s apsidal basin, the Virgin stands praying between the four soldier-archangels: Michael, Gabriel, Raphael and Uriel, in...

The Cefalù Cathedral represents a definitive dividing line between the Norman architecture of the past and with Sicilian architecture. In Cefalù, there are influences from Northern Europe, which can also be traced back to the second reconstruction of the Basilica of Cluny, together with elements o...

The Majestas Domini, or Majesty of the Lord, is an iconographic formula which was widely adopted in the Middle Ages, especially in Romanesque and Gothic portals. In the representation, Christ is depicted enthroned and often blessing, in the middle of a mandorla. The mandorla, also known as vesica pi...