Photo Galleries

Sicily – Monreale

April 2016

In 1174, Norman King William II of Sicily commissioned a cathedral and monastery on the “royal mountain” (Monreale) outside Palermo. The result is a remarkable building that reflects the mix of Arab, Byzantine, and Norman cultures that flourished on Sicily for centuries. Virtually every surface of the main church is covered in intricate glass and gold mosaics, considered some of the finest surviving 12th-century Byzantine-style art in the world. The cathedral's later Baroque-style chapels are less glittering but no less ornate.

The cathedral of Monreale was built in the 1170s under the Norman King William II of Sicily

Monreale ("royal mountain") is a hill south of Palermo that offers great views of the city and the sea

Chris and Francesca enjoy the view

The exterior of the back of the cathedral shows elements of Arab design; Sicily was a center of Arab culture for centuries before the Normans conquered it.

The interior of the cathedral

The walls are covered in gold and glass mosaics created by Greek and Byzantine craftsmen in the 1180s and 1190s

The floor is covered in intricate mosaics too

A rare mosaic of rabbits

Another unusual pattern: stars of Bethlehem

A later side chapel of the cathedral is equally gaudy but in a Baroque style

Melissa marveled at slone carved and inlaid to look like folds of cloth

A tomb covered in pictures made from inlaid stone

Carved doors in the cathedral