Palermo Cathedral
St. Mary Magdalene

The senses tell St. Mary Magdalene

sight
The treasure of the Cathedral

The shrines that hold the Cathedral’s treasure shine. Visiting the rooms is like travelling back in time and reliving a never forgotten past. The crown, three gold rings with precious stones and a plaque found in the tomb of Frederick II’s first wife, Constance of Aragon, can still be admired today. There are also: an ivory shrine; two polygonal medallions; a silver and gilded bronze shrine; a silver chalice; a gilded bronze and pierced silver shrine from the Gothic period; the Carondolet antependium in silk, velvet and gold; the Peace of St. Luke; the chalice of Charles III of Spain; an embossed and chiselled silver shrine containing the wood of the Holy Cross; the Barbavara chalice and the Soledad chalice.

touch
Gold and precious stones

The crown of Constance of Aragon, dating back to approximately 1222, was made by the Tiraz of the Royal Palace. The crown, a symbol of luxury and royalty, has side pendants; the cloth cap is embellished with a fine vermicular gold filigree, raw gems collected in baskets and strings of beads elegantly surrounding the enamels. The materials are those worthy of a queen: gold, silver, silk, enamel, pearls, precious stones.

The chapel of St. Benedict

The cultural substrate through time

The dialogue between the architectures of the monumental complex

The king’s mark

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

Ecclesia munita

A space between the visible and the invisible

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

A palimpsest of history

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

Layers of different cultures decorate the external apses

A Northern population

The construction of Monreale Cathedral: between myth and history

Cefalù: settlement evidence through time

The side aisles

The Great Presbytery: a unique space for the cathedral

The towers facing the facade used as bell towers

The area of the Sanctuary

Under the crosses of the Bema

The medieval city amidst monasticism and feudal aristocracy

The beginning of the construction site

A cloister of accentuated stylistic variety

Mosaic decoration

Characteristics of religious architecture in the romanesque period

The transformations of the hall through the centuries

The Cathedral over the centuries

The chystro: a place between earth and sky

Gardens and architecture as a backdrop to the city of Palermo

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

The cemetery of kings

Porphyry sarcophagi: royalty and power

The chorus: beating heart of the cathedral

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

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

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

The balance between architecture and light

The Bible carved in stone

Palermo: the happiest city

The lost chapel

The longest aisle

Squaring the circle

Artistic elements in Peter’s ship

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

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

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

Beyond the harmony of proportions

A controversial interpretation

The mosaics of the presbytery

The liturgical spaces of the protesis and the diaconicon

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

Worship services

Transformations over the centuries

The towers and the western facade

The Virgin Hodegetria

The decorated facade

A new Cathedral

Roger II’s strategic design

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

The Chapel of the Kings

A mixture of styles pervades the floor decorations

The stone bible

The Great Restoration

A remarkable ceiling

The original design

Norman religious architecture with islamic influences in Sicily

A tree full of life

The rediscovered chapel

Interior decorations

The southern portico

The senses tell Context 1

The chapel of san Castrense: an important renaissance work

From the Mosque to the Cathedral

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

The Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene

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

A polysemy of high-level artistic forms and content

Two initially similar towers, varied over time

Survey of the royal tombs

Roger II of hauteville: a sovereign protected by God

The Gualtiero Cathedral

A chapel by an unknown designer based on repeated symmetries

The Kings’ Cathedrals

The mosaics of the apses