Palermo Cathedral
The central body: the aisles

The Cathedral over the centuries

The common fate of most Romanesque churches was that they were transformed in the following centuries according to the style of the time. Some were profoundly modified and others were decorated with added compositions, without altering their original character.
A similar fate befell the Palermo Cathedral, which underwent numerous and varied transformations, restorations and embellishments from the 15th century until the early 18th century.These works did not change the structural characteristics of the building but simply added additional spaces for the clergy and for worship, sacristies and side chapels dedicated to the saints worshipped in the city. The interior walls were decorated with Baroque style frescoes and stucco work with garlands and wreaths, as well as other artistic works.
In the second half of the 18th century, the building was generally in poor condition and needed urgent work. Archbishop Filangeri and the Cathedral Chapter petitioned King Ferdinand IV of Bourbonto intervene “to restore decorum and dignity to the city’s mother church”.

Squaring the circle

The beginning of the construction site

Transformations over the centuries

The cemetery of kings

The Virgin Hodegetria

Roger II of hauteville: a sovereign protected by God

The stone bible

The Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene

From the Mosque to the Cathedral

The liturgical spaces of the protesis and the diaconicon

A mixture of styles pervades the floor decorations

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

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

The towers and the western facade

The dialogue between the architectures of the monumental complex

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

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

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

A controversial interpretation

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

The Great Restoration

Ecclesia munita

Mosaic decoration

The transformations of the hall through the centuries

The king’s mark

Gardens and architecture as a backdrop to the city of Palermo

Norman religious architecture with islamic influences in Sicily

The senses tell Context 1

The chorus: beating heart of the cathedral

Worship services

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

The chystro: a place between earth and sky

The decorated facade

The area of the Sanctuary

The southern portico

The longest aisle

The mosaics of the apses

A palimpsest of history

A polysemy of high-level artistic forms and content

The Cathedral over the centuries

Layers of different cultures decorate the external apses

The construction of Monreale Cathedral: between myth and history

A space between the visible and the invisible

The mosaics of the presbytery

The Great Presbytery: a unique space for the cathedral

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

The Kings’ Cathedrals

Characteristics of religious architecture in the romanesque period

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

Porphyry sarcophagi: royalty and power

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

Roger II’s strategic design

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

A cloister of accentuated stylistic variety

The medieval city amidst monasticism and feudal aristocracy

Under the crosses of the Bema

The rediscovered chapel

A tree full of life

A Northern population

The chapel of St. Benedict

The lost chapel

A chapel by an unknown designer based on repeated symmetries

A new Cathedral

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

The Bible carved in stone

Artistic elements in Peter’s ship

The original design

Interior decorations

Survey of the royal tombs

The chapel of san Castrense: an important renaissance work

Palermo: the happiest city

The cultural substrate through time

The Chapel of the Kings

Two initially similar towers, varied over time

The side aisles

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

Cefalù: settlement evidence through time

The Gualtiero Cathedral

Beyond the harmony of proportions

The towers facing the facade used as bell towers

A remarkable ceiling

The balance between architecture and light