A short drive from Palermo and into the hills one arrives in Monreale. The town is dominated by the massive Norman Cathedral.
King William II ( “William the Good”, in contrast to his father, “William the Bad”, whose Norman ancestors had conquered the island from the Arabs a century earlier) ordered the construction of a new church in Monreale, dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It was begun in 1174 and on its completion in 1182, Pope Lucius III elevated the splendid church to the status of a metropolitan cathedral.
The cathedral’s asymmetrical, twin-towered façade gives little clue as to the splendour to be found within. They say that all that glitters is not gold, but in the case of Monreale Cathedral, the adage proves false. With mosaics made from nearly 5,000 pounds of pure gold, the cathedral’s interior is truly luminous. A geometrically patterned marble floor, in-laid with mosaics, supports two lines of granite Corinthian columns from temples in Palermo. Over 6,500m2 of mosaics cover the upper walls and supports with biblical scenes and depictions of saints, kings and angels. The execution of the mosaics was entrusted to Byzantine workers from Constantinople and the iconography is Greek.
