After 1172, the Sicilian king William II built Monreale – 7 km southwest of Palermo – as the seat of a monastery and had a fortress-like building complex constructed, which included a cathedral, an archbishop's palace, a royal palace and a Benedictine monastery. In 1183, he achieved the elevation of Monreale to an archbishopric by Pope Lucius III. Of the buildings, only the cathedral with its cloister has survived to this day. The medieval town developed around this complex.
Cathedral
With approximately 6,340 m² of mosaic flooring dating back to the 12th century, it is one of the most famous cathedrals in Sicily. The famous bronze door by Pisano from 1186 is also particularly worth seeing.
The second picture shows the north side with its Baroque dome. The roof is popular with visitors.
Inside, you can experience a symbiosis of Romanesque (building structure), Arabic (blind arches, inlays on the outer walls, especially the apses) and Byzantine (gold-ground mosaics on the interior walls) art.
In the main apse, Christ is depicted as Pantokrator (ruler of the world). The medallions of the framing arch depict Christ, Emmanuel, David, Solomon, Elijah, Samuel, Daniel, Gedun, Nathan and Elisha. Below them are Mary with the baby Jesus, next to her the archangels Gabriel and Michael.
The church contains several tombs of Norman rulers.
The gold-ground mosaics in the central nave and on the west wall show scenes from the Book of Genesis, the first book of the Old Testament, in two rows: in the upper row, the story of creation from the six days of creation to the expulsion from paradise; in the lower row, scenes from the lives of the patriarchs Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Cloister
The cloister is the only remaining part of the Benedictine monastery that belonged to the cathedral complex. It measures 47 x 47 metres. There are 26 pointed arches on each of the four sides of the cloister.
The capitals are all different in design, showing reliefs of scenes from the Bible or symbolic Christian and Islamic representations.
