We went back to the same cafe with Wi-Fi!
We set off this morning for the Palatine Chapel. This is in the west of Palermo, on a site that has always been a royal palace. It was originally a Saracen palace, built in the 9th century, but considerably enlarged by the Normans. Most of its interior is now taken up by the Sicilian regional parliament.
The Palatine Chapel, a small part of the palace, was the private chapel of Roger II, built between 1142 and 1153. The interior is utterly overwhelming, with every surface completely covered with mosaics of outstanding quality.
The chapel is dedicated to St Peter. The ilustration below shows a bit of the mosaic depicting him.
It also shows a portion of the carved and painted arabic ceiling above the mosaic, and below it, some of the complex patterns that appear all over the chapel.
The colours are really vivid, and what dominates everything is the image of Christ as Pantocrator. I think He looks quite stern.
The mosaics in the cupola and apses are the oldest, probably finished about 1150, and are thought to be by Byzantine artists.
Those in the nave are slightly later, perhaps by about 20 years, and the artists were possibly local. They illustrate scenes from the Old and New Testament.
You can clearly see that every single possible surface is covered, by pattern if not by picture, and the mosaics are so fine in quality that Paul, who had not read the guide book, thought they were paintings and not mosaics.
If I don't write any more, you can safely assume it is because I am, for once, speechless. And I have to admit, words failed me more than once today.
We got back into the bus and were driven to Monreale, a small hill town about 5 miles outside Palermo. It is said to have wonderful views down the valley towards Palermo in the distance, but for once, I paid little attention to the views. We had gone to see the Norman cathedral and its celebrated mosaics; the cathedral was built in 1174, and was finished very quickly. The mosaics were probably created by Greek and Byzantine craftsmen, and were designed for the worshippers to be able to read the Bible stories straight off the walls.
There are 89 steps up the hillside from the car park, so I was already gasping by the time I got inside, and I never stopped gasping.
As you can see, the scene is again dominated by the figure of Christ, this time in benediction, in the central apse.
Underneath are an enthroned Virgin and Child, attendant angels, and below them, a row of saints, each identified by name.
Our guide told us an amusing little story. The cathedral was built by William I, who was married to Joanna, daughter of the English king Henry II. You may recall it is he who was blamed for the murder of Thomas a Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury. William was so embarrassed by this crime attributed to his father-in-law that he declared Thomas a saint before the Pope did; Thomas' picture is here, labelled 'St Thomas', to the right of the central window, long before the Pope pronounced him a saint. 'In Sicily', said our guide, 'anything is possible!'
It is the image of Christ that draws the attention here, it is so enormous. The head and shoulders stand almost 20 metres high, and the face is described as being full of compassion. The photo above shows how it dominates the church, but I am also including a closer view below because it is such a stunning image.
Many of the other mosaics are little masterpieces. This next one shows Adam and Eve, having eaten the forbidden fruit, realising that they are naked and hastily donning large fig leaves. You can see the look of dismay on both their faces.
Clearly, the mosaic artists had a sense of humour. You can see in the next illustration that Adam and Eve are not so pleased with their lives outside Paradise. Adam is having to toil away out in the fields, while Eve is clearly bored to tears with her spinning.
I told Paul I had assumed at first glance that Adam was playing golf, rather than tilling the fields; I recognised Eve's facial expression as the one on the face of any golf widow, especially when being obliged to endure tedious and seemingly interminable golf anecdotes. However, I then saw that Adam had a hoe, rather than a golf club, and realised that the mosaic artist was probably having a dig at women. He obviously feels that housework, cooking and childminding (not to mention spinning, weaving etc.) are insufficient occupation to keep a woman from being bored.
Outside are the cloisters, an elegant arcade with 216 double pillars. The arches, we were told, are a legacy of Arab influence in Sicilian art. Each one is patterned - you may be able to see some of the patterns - and there are different scenes on each of the carved capitals.
After that, the rain started! Paul and I rushed down the stairs to the bus just in time to avoid getting soaked, and the bus headed back to Palermo to take us to the Cathedral there.
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