9/21/24: Monreale's Golden Cattedrale & Cloister!

Readers, I hope you will allow me some artistic license as this post is wholly based on our visit to a single church, the cathedral in Monreale, near Palermo, as it's regarded as the most beautiful of the Norman churches in Sicily. Even if you're not religiously inclined, I hope you will admire its stunning beauty.

En route to the hilltop town of Monreale, located about six miles southwest of Palermo, the Uber driver pointed out the Fishermen's Fountain. 

Though the sign proclaimed Monreale was the city of ceramics and mosaics, its claim to fame is the Duomo, the splendid cathedral that richly depicted events in mosaics from the Old and New Testaments. 

The statue showed Norman King William II of Sicily, 1154-89, in the cloister of Santa Maria la Nuova handing the Virgin Mary the church he built during the 12th century. Almost a thousand years ago, Monreale was a cosmopolitan and prosperous center whose varied population enjoyed religious and ethnic tolerance and worked alongside each other to create a monument dedicated to the Virgin Mary. 

For a better understanding of the Duomo in Monreale, I read an excellent article by Meg Pier, the founder of People Are Culture, which described that under Norman reign, Christians, Muslims, and Jews in Monreale co-existed in peace and prosperity, borrowing heavily from each other’s heritage. Before the Normans arrived, Sicily was ruled by the Fatimids or Arabs of North Africa during the 9th and 10th centuries. The discovery of the Arab culture by the first Normans was seen as a resource and not a threat. Because many were engineers, mathematicians, artists, artisans, and intellectuals, their culture was reflected in the Cathedral’s architecture and its beautiful interior marble floors with geometric patterns.

The 26-foot-high bronze doors by Bonnano Pisano, completed in 1126 and depicting 42 biblical scenes, are considered among the most important medieval artifacts in existence. 

Pier stated after the Normans had learned about Byzantine culture in southern Italy, mosaic artists were invited directly from Byzantium to decorate church interiors in Sicily. The Byzantine culture is responsible for the mosaics that cover the Duomo's entire walls. Though the period's architectural style is generally described as Arab-Norman, Pier referenced a guide who thought that the style should be called the Fatimid, Byzantine, and Norman style to include the three contributing cultures. "It is a Catholic cathedral, commissioned during the Norman Kingdom, but created by Fatimid and Byzantine artists, each bearer of their own culture."

I gazed upward, drawn to the glittering golden apse dominated by the Christ Pantocreator which represented all of creation. 

Elaborate mosaics made with pure gold estimated to weigh more than 4,850 pounds covered virtually every wall, an area of over 68,000 square feet. The scenes of Christ's life adorned the walls of the aisles and the transept.

The wooden, painted ceiling dated to 1836-37.

The mosaics illustrated the story of Jesus, his death, and the stories of the apostles, with every scene accompanied by captions written in Latin. Pier's guide noted, "The mosaics are like a book, with each scene representing a different chapter.”

As we toured the Duomo, it was impossible to not reflect on King Roger II’s similarly grandiose Palatine Chapel in Palermo we'd admired the previous day. Some consider William's building of the nearby Duomo was an attempt to outdo his grandfather. Pier wrote that William ensured that he "would forever go down in history as the benefactor of this massive monument to his faith with two appearances in tile on its walls" although I wasn't able to find either.

Phil: Since I know you're a big music fan, I wish I had thought of taking a photo of the Duomo's wood and metal organ as it's the only one in Europe with six keyboards and 10,000 pipes. Mick Jagger played it on a private visit in 2021!

King William II's tomb: 

I escaped the staggering beauty to seek refuge in the adjacent Benedictine abbey's Cloister which was built at the same time as the church and the rest of the monastery but enlarged in the 14th century. A cloister is a covered walk in a convent, monastery, or cathedral with a wall on one side and an opening to a quadrangle on the other. Depending on whom you believe, Monreale's cloister featured either 208 or 216 intricately carved double columns, each decorated in a unique glass mosaic pattern.

The cloister was where the "monks prayed, contemplated, wrote, and where they dedicated themselves to nature."

Atop each column were capitals, all different from one another, some inspired by the Bible and others by mythology and other whimsical designs.

Behind the Duomo were stunning views of the Conca d'Oro or Golden Conch Valley toward Palermo.

I then wandered through the Duomo's Museum. The gold, silver, and velvet altar was created in the second half of the 17th century. 

The glazed terracotta Madonna and Child from 1485-90 was attributed to Andrea Della Robbia, a Florentine sculptor and nephew of Luca Della Robbia who developed blue and white glazes on terracotta.

The 17th-century Odigitria which originally adorned the Duomo's high altar was created by Ioannikos Cornero, a painter of the Byzantine circle in the second half of the 12th century.  

The hall was dominated by the polychrome Wood Crucifix made by a 15th-century Sicilian sculptor. 

The exquisite, embroidered cape was a religious garment fashioned in the first half of the 19th century.

These other pieces of art also caught my fancy in the museum. 

On our return to Palermo, we enjoyed stellar panoramic views of Monte Caputo and Palermo Bay.

Next post: More golden mosaics and a puppet museum in Palermo.

Posted on November 9th, 2024 from back home at last in the suburbs of snowy Denver at least for a week! Please take care of yourself and your loved ones.