Monreale Cathedral
the internal areas

The chapel of san Castrense: an important renaissance work

From the right-hand side aisle of the cathedral, passing through a portal which may date back to William II’s era, located symmetrically on the opposite side of the side entrance, we enter the chapel of San Castrense , located in the north wing of the cloister.Even from the representations appearing in relief on the walnut shutters, decorated with foliage, we can see the image of the chapel’s namesake Holy Bishop on the left, at the front, wearing a mitre, holding a crosier and giving a blessing.This is followed, on the right, by the frontal figure of Archbishop Ludovico II de Torres , who commissioned this space and who, stripped of his iconographic attributes and bareheaded, holds only a cross-shaped staff to emphasise his mission as Pastor. The founder’s noble lineage is commemorated in the coats of arms below, where five skilfully inlaid towers stand out.
The geometric profile of the squares, lightened by iron grilles adorning the central area, are interrupted by the sinuous design of the bronze ring-shaped handles, each decorated with putti holding the Torrese coat of arms, supported by a cherub.
Work on the construction and decoration of this first important Renaissance work inside the cathedral lasted from 1588 to 1609. This project was carried out to contain the relics of the patron saint of the city and the archdiocese, which had arrived in Monreale on 29 December 1596 at the behest of Alfano, Bishop of Capua, as a wedding gift for the sovereign.
As well as fulfilling the desire already expressed by Ludovico I de Torres, the construction of the chapel was also intended to fulfil a personal wish of his successor. He wanted to make it his own burial place, a wish that remained unfulfilled, as his remains remained in Rome in the Church of San Pancrazio, where he was appointed patron, when he died in 1609.

The cemetery of kings

The king’s mark

The Great Presbytery: a unique space for the cathedral

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

The construction of Monreale Cathedral: between myth and history

The liturgical spaces of the protesis and the diaconicon

The chapel of san Castrense: an important renaissance work

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

The beginning of the construction site

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

The Cathedral over the centuries

The chapel of St. Benedict

A tree full of life

Norman religious architecture with islamic influences in Sicily

The chorus: beating heart of the cathedral

The towers facing the facade used as bell towers

The towers and the western facade

Roger II of hauteville: a sovereign protected by God

The decorated facade

The Bible carved in stone

The Kings’ Cathedrals

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

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

The senses tell Context 1

A mixture of styles pervades the floor decorations

The lost chapel

A controversial interpretation

Ecclesia munita

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

The Chapel of the Kings

A polysemy of high-level artistic forms and content

The side aisles

The southern portico

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

The Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene

Under the crosses of the Bema

The Great Restoration

The Virgin Hodegetria

The medieval city amidst monasticism and feudal aristocracy

The rediscovered chapel

Palermo: the happiest city

Artistic elements in Peter’s ship

The mosaics of the apses

The stone bible

Roger II’s strategic design

The dialogue between the architectures of the monumental complex

Squaring the circle

Transformations over the centuries

Beyond the harmony of proportions

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

A space between the visible and the invisible

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

A Northern population

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

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

Worship services

The transformations of the hall through the centuries

Two initially similar towers, varied over time

A palimpsest of history

The chystro: a place between earth and sky

From the Mosque to the Cathedral

A chapel by an unknown designer based on repeated symmetries

Gardens and architecture as a backdrop to the city of Palermo

The mosaics of the presbytery

Layers of different cultures decorate the external apses

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

The original design

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

A new Cathedral

The cultural substrate through time

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

A cloister of accentuated stylistic variety

The area of the Sanctuary

Survey of the royal tombs

The longest aisle

Porphyry sarcophagi: royalty and power

The balance between architecture and light

Interior decorations

The Gualtiero Cathedral

A remarkable ceiling

Cefalù: settlement evidence through time

Mosaic decoration

Characteristics of religious architecture in the romanesque period