Palermo Cathedral
The Context 2

A palimpsest of history

The Cathedral is located in the centre, in the heart of the ancient city, in an elevated position, close to the Royal Palace, to which it was connected by a covered street. There is a large open space on the southern front, which is now enclosed by a balustrade.
This large square is not a simple churchyard or garden, but a tangible sign of what was once Palermo’s great Friday Mosque and was intended to form the large porticoed courtyard adjacent to it.
This was, in fact, an atrium, originally enclosed on three sides by high walls, surrounded by porticoed arches and with two fountains in the centre. Until the middle of the 16th century, the fair of Santa Cristina was held there. In the 16th century, when the decision was made to demolish the walls and create an open space, bordered by an elegant balustrade, the two fountains which are still visible today, which are probably the remains of the fountains for the ablutions of the faithful in the ancient Mosque, were kept as a memorial.
This is supported by the anomalous position of Palermo Cathedral, which is not canonically oriented on the west-east axis towards the apse, but on the south-west-north-east axis, where its façade, which faces south, is actually directed towards Mecca .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inside the church, on this façade, recent restorations have unearthed one of the probable seven al-mihrab indicating the direction of Mecca. Other parts of the ancient Mosque were found, and reused in the renovation of the Cathedral, as was the custom of the time, as witnessed by a column in the southern portico, which has a verse from the Surah of the Qur’an .

Today’s cathedral has undergone many changes over the years, especially at the end of the 18th century, when the architect Ferdinando Fuga completely altered the style of the cathedral, both inside to conform to the new taste of the neoclassical style and outside with additions and modifications, including the massive transept, the large dome and the small domes.These changes have made the Palermo Cathedral an admirable palimpsest. Its beauty lies in the various stylistic overlaps, which make it a unique work of art. In its stones, where the evolution of time can be read, the history of this very happy city is engraved.

The king’s mark

The longest aisle

Porphyry sarcophagi: royalty and power

Artistic elements in Peter’s ship

The mosaics of the apses

The cemetery of kings

The towers and the western facade

Two initially similar towers, varied over time

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

A polysemy of high-level artistic forms and content

A mixture of styles pervades the floor decorations

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

Transformations over the centuries

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

A remarkable ceiling

Cefalù: settlement evidence through time

The beginning of the construction site

From the Mosque to the Cathedral

The liturgical spaces of the protesis and the diaconicon

The chapel of san Castrense: an important renaissance work

Palermo: the happiest city

The dialogue between the architectures of the monumental complex

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

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

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

A palimpsest of history

Characteristics of religious architecture in the romanesque period

The chorus: beating heart of the cathedral

The chystro: a place between earth and sky

The original design

The Gualtiero Cathedral

The rediscovered chapel

A Northern population

The Virgin Hodegetria

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

Norman religious architecture with islamic influences in Sicily

The lost chapel

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

Under the crosses of the Bema

Gardens and architecture as a backdrop to the city of Palermo

A tree full of life

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

The southern portico

The area of the Sanctuary

The medieval city amidst monasticism and feudal aristocracy

A new Cathedral

Survey of the royal tombs

Ecclesia munita

Layers of different cultures decorate the external apses

The side aisles

The Chapel of the Kings

A cloister of accentuated stylistic variety

The Great Presbytery: a unique space for the cathedral

Mosaic decoration

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

Beyond the harmony of proportions

A space between the visible and the invisible

The Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene

The mosaics of the presbytery

Roger II of hauteville: a sovereign protected by God

The cultural substrate through time

A controversial interpretation

Worship services

The Cathedral over the centuries

The senses tell Context 1

The transformations of the hall through the centuries

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

The stone bible

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

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

Roger II’s strategic design

The decorated facade

The Kings’ Cathedrals

The construction of Monreale Cathedral: between myth and history

A chapel by an unknown designer based on repeated symmetries

Interior decorations

The towers facing the facade used as bell towers

The Bible carved in stone

The balance between architecture and light

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

The chapel of St. Benedict

Squaring the circle

The Great Restoration