After visiting the Museum, we paused to visit the church opposite, which is modern but an amazing building. The Angelus had been ringing from the church when we arrived at the museum because it was Sunday, but the service was over in an hour, so the church was beginning to empty as we left the museum.
The space inside the church is circular, but the pews are arranged as if it were a Greek theatre, in a semi-circle. The light is diffused through the windows; our guide Antonio told us it was the light was very spiritual, but actually because of the number of people there, it was quite bustling inside. There were queues to see and photograph the icon of the Virgin Mary which had cried real tears; some of those queueing were nuns in long white habits.
After that, we went to have pizza for lunch. Note to self - must have a smaller slice next time!
After lunch, we had a very short rest, then a lecture on Baroque architecture and painting, then we were in the bus again and off to Ortygia to look at the Baroque architecture there.
Ortygia was the site of very early colonisation by the Greeks, in the 7th century BC. It is reached by a short causeway.
Because it is an island and easy to defend, it was popular with all invaders, and each kept re-building it, or re-using the stones. The Greeks were defeated by the Romans in 212 BC, but there is little that is Greek and Roman left in Ortygia. After the fall of Rome, the Byzantines came, and they were followed by the Arabs in the 8th century. The next lot were the Normans in the 11th century, a little before they invaded England. Very little remains of all these invasions, because much was destroyed in the earthquake of 1693. So a lot of what remains is Baroque. This is the Piazza Archimede, named after Archimedes.
The main plaza of the town is even more spectacularly Baroque. At the time, in Southern European Baroque, facades were usually curved, either concave or convex. Private residences might have balconies with curved wrought iron balustrades. You can see these features in the buildings shown here.
The Cathedral is even more spectacular, but, as Antonio pointed out to us, once inside we can appreciate it is only a facade.
The Cathedral was originally the Temple of Athena. It was converted into a Christian church by the Byzantines, then into a mosque when the Arabs came. Under the Normans, it became a church again. From being a temple, it was converted into a church by removing some walls, building others, and piercing two side walls. A temple has columns round the outside, and a wall inside so that ordinary people can't see the Cella, the holiest place. First, all the columns were included into the church by building new walls all round the outside of the temple. Then the short walls of the Cella were taken down, and the long walls were pierced so columns were made. This gave three aisles. You can see this in my photo.
On the right of my photo are the original columns of the temple of Athena, built in the mid 5th century BC. On the left is the original long wall of the Cella, which has been pierced to make columns. This makes up the side aisle of the church. This is how you make a Greek temple into a church!
There are various Baroque additions; apart from the facade, and Baroque altar, there are several Baroque side chapels.
I find the style rather too decorated for my taste, but I quite liked these ceiling paintings.
When we left the cathedral we walked down to the harbour, where there were some beautiful views. This is the great harbour where the Greek fleet was annihilated by the Syracusans in 430 BC. I'm not sure of the date of the fort at the far end.
After all this, we were very tired and sat to have a drink by the harbour side. Later, we went off for supper, and were not back to the hotel until after 10!
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