Arab-Norman Palermo and the Cathedral Churches of Cefalú and Monreale, Cefalù Cathedral, ID=1487-008 - World Heritage Sites on Waymarking.com

According to tradition, the building was erected after a vow made to the Holy Saviour by the King of Sicily, Roger II, after he escaped from a storm to land on the city's beach. The fortress-like character of the building, which, seen from a distance, rises as a huge bulk above its medieval town. It also made a powerful statement of the Norman presence.

Construction began in 1131, the apse mosaics begun in 1145 and the sarcophagi that Roger II provided for his tomb and that of his wife were put in place the same year.

After 1172 the church suffered a period of decline and in 1215 Frederick II of Hohenstaufen moved the two sarcophagi to the Cathedral of Palermo. Construction of the cathedral was resumed soon after, the façade being completed in 1240. The Cathedral was consecrated in 1267 by Rodolphe de Chevriêres, Bishop of Albano.
In 1472 a portico, by Ambrogio da Como, was added between the two towers of the facade.

The famous façade is characterized by the presence of two large Norman towers, with mullioned windows, each surmounted by a small spire added in the 15th century. Each spire is different: one has a square plan surrounded by flame-shaped merlons, the latter symbolizing the Papal authority and the mitre; the other has an octagonal plan and Ghibelline merlons, symbolizing the Royal and the temporal power.

The interior of the cathedral is on the Latin cross plan, divided into a nave and two aisles by arcades of antique columns: fourteen in pink granite and two in cipolin. The bases and capitals are from the 2nd century AD. Two large capitals supporting the triumphal arch of the nave were probably made by an Apulian workshop in the mid-12th century.

Beyond the crossing, the church is unusual in combining a style which is essentially Romanesque in its massive simple forms, with the pointed (or ogival) arch. This feature, also seen in Monreale Cathedral. It is a forerunner of the Gothic style which was to emerge in the region of Paris within a few years.

It was probably planned that the entire church should be decorated in mosaic, but it was only completed in the presbyterium area. It still covers the apse and some half of the side walls. Roger II brought masters in the technique of mosaic from Constantinople. They adapted their traditional Byzantine decorative art to an architectural structure that was of Northern European origin.

The dominant figure of the decorative scheme is the bust of the Christ Pantokrator, portrayed with a hand raised in Benediction on the semi-dome of the apse. In his left hand he carries the Gospel of John, in which can be read, in Greek and Latin: "I am the light of the world, who follows me will not wander in the darkness but will have the light of life" (John, 8:12).

The cathedral has a cloister which may be entered from within the church. The arcade has pointed arches each of which rests on thin paired columns. While the form is not unlike those of Spanish and some French cloisters, the composite capitals of the paired columns are distinctly Byzantine in their motifs, having creatures such as lions and eagles that are mirror-images, facing each other as in many of the decorative carvings of Ravenna.

Type: Site Reference number: 1487

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Date Logged Log User Rating   04/27/2018 ROLLERS2 visited it