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Visit Cefalu Cathedral
The historical and artistic heart of Cefalù is its Cathedral, founded by Roger II and in the Arab-Norman style. According to legend, Roger II ordered the construction of it to thank God for saving him from a storm by landing him on the beach of Cefalù.
In truth Roger II was very religious, and he himself makes no reference to the legend, so it is likely the cathedral was founded simply to do honour to God, as suggested in the work of T. Fazello: "[...] In the name of God and our Savior Jesus Christ. Roger, by divine mercy King of Sicily and Italy. We thought that it is worthy and reasonable to raise a temple in honor of the Savior, and to found a church for His glory (...) in order to merit eternal life after death[...]."
Founded in 1131, its massive fortress figure is accentuated by two strong square towers. There is a battlement in its southern part, and underground passages and tunnels that connect the various parts of the building. The façade has false loggias and a central arched window. The portal is decorated with an arch of white marble. The church has a Latin cross form divided into three naves supported by marble columns.
The gold of the mosaics shines in the apse, built later, in 1148, by Byzantine craftsmen who knew how to combine this Eastern tradition with a decorative Nordic structure. In the cathedral of Cefalù the floor, nave, wings are free of mosaics, but the bareness is compensated by those who decorated the sanctuary. Impressive above all is the figure of the "Pantokràtor" (literally "the Creator and Sovereign of all things"), who looms in the apse overlooking the temple and inspiring a profound veneration. He is pictured as blessing with his right hand and holding in the left an open volume, in which it is written, that He is the light of the world, not living in darkness who follows Him, but he will enjoy the light of life.
There are other figures of similar excellence in large numbers at Cefalu cathedral: archangels, saints and popes; they are divided into three compartments under the great figure of the Saviour: in the first there are the Virgin Mary, flanked by four archangels; and in two below, which are interspersed by long and narrow pointed windows, we see the apostles and two evangelists, Mark and Luke.
In the side walls of the sanctuary next to the Savior we see the figure of Melchizedek, Moses and Hosea below. At the level of the Virgin in the same side there are the prophets, Joshua, Amos, Obadiah, and in two compartments below the entire figure of eight saints, or Peter, Vincent, Lawrence, Stephen, Gregory, Augustine, Sylvester and Dionysius, with Latin legends.
The opposite wall is ordered in the same way, where Abraham, David and Solomon are portrayed next to the Redeemer; Jonah, Micah, and Nahum on a level of the Virgin, and in two lower partitions Saints Theodore, George, Demetrius, Nestor, Nicholas, Basil, and Gregory.
We must pay attention also to the Latin inscription in rhyming verse, which is located under the Apostles, because it gives us the precise date of the period in which the mosaics were completed, and at the same time the name of the generous Prince who wanted the Cathedral. We quote the first two rhymed lines:
“Rogerius Rex Egregius Plenus Pietatis / Hoc statuit Templum motus zelo Deitatis”.
Anno ab Incarnatione Domini Millesimo Centesimo XLVIII. Indictione XI, Anno V, Regni eius XVIII, Hoc opus Musei factum est.”
[Trans: "The outstanding King Roger, brimming with religious feeling, built this temple moved by devotion to God."These mosaics were completed in the year of the Incarnation 1148, in the Indiction XI , in the fifth year and 18th of his kingdom"].
Among the other works inside the church, we mention the "Madonna and the Child"by sculptor Antonio Gagini (1478-1536) in the sixteenth century, some neoclassical stuccos and the silver altar in the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament.