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.

A remarkable ceiling

The towers and the western facade

Survey of the royal tombs

Ecclesia munita

A controversial interpretation

Gardens and architecture as a backdrop to the city of Palermo

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

The king’s mark

The balance between architecture and light

The dialogue between the architectures of the monumental complex

The Great Restoration

A Northern population

Cefalù: settlement evidence through time

The medieval city amidst monasticism and feudal aristocracy

The original design

The decorated facade

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

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

The liturgical spaces of the protesis and the diaconicon

The chorus: beating heart of the cathedral

The Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene

A tree full of life

The Bible carved in stone

Interior decorations

Palermo: the happiest city

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

A chapel by an unknown designer based on repeated symmetries

The towers facing the facade used as bell towers

Beyond the harmony of proportions

The senses tell Context 1

Norman religious architecture with islamic influences in Sicily

Characteristics of religious architecture in the romanesque period

The chapel of san Castrense: an important renaissance work

The Chapel of the Kings

Roger II’s strategic design

The chapel of St. Benedict

The Great Presbytery: a unique space for the cathedral

A space between the visible and the invisible

A palimpsest of history

A polysemy of high-level artistic forms and content

The southern portico

The construction of Monreale Cathedral: between myth and history

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

Worship services

The area of the Sanctuary

Two initially similar towers, varied over time

Transformations over the centuries

A cloister of accentuated stylistic variety

The Gualtiero Cathedral

The Cathedral over the centuries

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

Roger II of hauteville: a sovereign protected by God

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

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

The stone bible

The mosaics of the presbytery

The cultural substrate through time

The longest aisle

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

Mosaic decoration

The Kings’ Cathedrals

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

Layers of different cultures decorate the external apses

The chystro: a place between earth and sky

The Virgin Hodegetria

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

The transformations of the hall through the centuries

From the Mosque to the Cathedral

A mixture of styles pervades the floor decorations

Under the crosses of the Bema

A new Cathedral

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

The cemetery of kings

The mosaics of the apses

Porphyry sarcophagi: royalty and power

The lost chapel

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

The beginning of the construction site

The side aisles

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

Artistic elements in Peter’s ship

Squaring the circle

The rediscovered chapel