Palermo Cathedral
The Cathedral of Palermo is an architectural complex in Palermo (Sicily, Italy). It is characterized by the presence of different styles, due to the long series of additions, alterations and restorations, the last of which occured in the 18th century.
History
The church was erected in 1185 by Walter Offamilius, archbishop of Palermo and King William II's minister, on the area of a first Byzantine basilica: this, allegedly founded by St. Gregory, had been turned into a mosque by the Saracens after their conquest of the city in the 9th century. Offamilius is buried in a sarcophagus in the church's crypt. Of the Middle Ages edifice, only minor architectural parts survive today.
The upper orders of the corner towers were built between the 14th and the 15th centuries, while in the early Renaissance the southern porch was added. The present neoclassical appearance dates from the work carried out in 1781-1801, and supervisioned by Ferdinando Fuga. In this intervention the great retable by Gagini, decorated with statues, friezes and reliefs, was destroyed and the sculptures moved to different parts of the basilica. Also by Fuga are the great dome emerging from the main body of the building, and the smaller domes covering the aisles' ceilings.
Overview
The right side has outstretching turrets and a wide portico (the current entrance) in Gothic-Catalan style, erected around 1465 and openening to the square. The carved portal of this entrance was executed in 1426 by Antonio Gambara, white the magnificent wooden leafs are by Francesco Miranda (1432). The mosaic portraying the Madonna is from 13th century, while the two monuments on the walls, workes of the early 18th century, represents King Charles III of Bourbon and Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia.
The area of apse, enclosed by the turrets and highly decorated on the external walls, is part of the original 12th century building, while the more modern part of the church is the left side, which has a early-16th century portal by Antonello Gagini. The South-Western façade, looking at the Archbishop Palace, dates from the 14th-15th centuries.
The interior has a Latin cross plan, with a nave and two aisles divided by pilasters. In the first two chapels of the rights aisle are the tomb of emperors and royal figures placed here in the 18th century from their original sites (also in the basilica). Urns house the spoils of Emperor Henry VI, his son Frederick II of Sicily, as well as those of Peter II of Sicily. A Roman sarcophagus is the tomb of Constance of Aragon, Frederick's wife. Under the mosaic baldachins are the tombs of Roger II, the first King of Sicily, and his daughter Constance. The last two were once located in the transept of the Cathedral of Cefalù.
The Sacrament chapel, at the end of the left aisles, is decorated with precious stones and lapislazuli. To the right, in the presbitery, is the chapel of Sta. Rosalia, patron of Palermo, closed by a richly ornamental bronze gate, with relics and a 17th century silver urn which is object of particular devotion.
The 1466 Gothic-Catalan style wooden choir and the marble remains of the Gagini's retable (removed during the 18th century alterations) are also precious, as well as a marble statue of the Madonna with Child by Francesco Laurana and pupils (1469), the holy water stoup on the fourth pilaster (by Domenico Gagini) and the Madonna della Scala by Antonello Gagini, on the high altar of the new sacristy.
The crpyt, accessed from the left side, is a suggestive room with cross vault supported by granite columns, housing tombs and sarcophagi of Roman age. People buried here include archbishops Walter Offamilius, the church's founder, and Giovanni Paternò, patron of Antonello Gagini who sculpted the image on his tomb.
The Cathedral Treasury contains goblets, vestments, monstrances, a 14th century breviary and the famous Crown of Constance of Hauteville, a golden tiara found in her tomb.
References
- Sicily and its Islands, Ugo la Rosa Publisher, 1993.