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Visit Monreale Cathedral

On the side of Mount “Caputo”, on the south-west versant, is the cathedral complex of Monreale, built in a strategic position on the "Conca d'Oro” and the city of Palermo. Monreale town developed around its Cathedral - the exterior of which gives little indication of the splendid interior that awaits the visitor.

The article below is long and detailed (and fascinating!). If you simply want to know the highlights to see at Monreale cathedral - these are the lavish mosaics, the cloisters, and the doors - but you will enjoy your visit more with the history and information below, provided to Italy This Way by a learned expert!

A little background legend...

From 1166 King William II reigned in Sicily - because of his excellent qualities of mind he gained the nickname of 'Good' to distinguish him from the father, on contrary nicknamed William "the Bad"(1131-1166). According to the legend about the foundation of the Cathedral of Monreale, after eight years of his reign, one day the young prince, according to his custom, went hunting from his palace in Palermo in his reserve of Monreale, and then, tired from the long and exhausting hunt, he rested in the shade of a carob tree. Here he fell asleep and the Virgin appeared to him in a dream, revealing that at that place was a hidden treasure, urging him to use the money to build a church.

Waking up, William found the treasure and he vowed to make in that place a temple to the Virgin, with the name of "Santa Maria la Nuova, "assigning to the task many monks of St. Benedict brought in from the “Trinità della Cava”. As reward for the monks he had a monastery built adjoining the Church, enriching them with pensions and privileges.

The monastery, according to a bull of Pope Alexander III (1105-1181) on 30 December 1174, should not be subject to any ecclesiastical power but only to the Holy See, and the abbot of the monastery was honored with the title and jurisdiction of the Bishop. With this the Monastery of Monreale was endowed with many servants, who with their families began to multiply, and in a short time the small village became a town. Many came from surrounding countries, especially from Bulchar, a village of the Saracens.

Beyond the legend about the foundation, the fact is that William II "The Good" built a cathedral in Monreale that still amazes for its magnificence and for the building of which he lavished huge amounts of money, so that the cathedral of Monreale is still an attraction for tourists from all over the world.

As for the real reasons that led the young king (crowned king at 12 and died at 37 years) to take on the task, the assumptions have been many, but perhaps the most likely is simply that William II had a very strong desire to emulate his ancestors in magnificence, and especially Roger II (1095-1154), for whom he had a great admiration: "The devotion felt by William to the August figure of his grandfather (whose he could not keep any personal memory as at the time of the death of Roger II, he was about 2 years) is a historical fact "(see E. Kitzinger,"The Mosaics of Monreale”, Flaccovio, 1960: 117).

The building of the Benedictine Abbey of Monreale

Thus, in 1174 William II founded the Benedictine Abbey of Monreale, subject to the Papacy, and in December 1174 Alexander III gave the new institution full privileges, then re-confirmed in 1176.

The new foundation was called "super Sanctam Kiriacam"["above ‘Santa Ciriaca’"], as we read in the deed of gift by William II: [...]Monasterium (...) non longe a moenibus felici nostre Panormi supra Sanctam Kiriacam [...]"(“The monastery [located] not far from the walls of our ever happy city of Palermo, above ‘Santa Ciriaca’”). From 1176 the monks of the Monastery of Cava, near Salerno, were invited by William II to settle in the new monastery.

We have no documents about the building of the monastery, but according to studies the construction of the cathedral and the monastery began almost simultaneously, and apparently the monastery was built over a couple of years. Pope Lucius III (1100-1185) in 1183 gave Monreale the title of Archbishop, and in that same year the Cathedral held the mortal remains of Queen Margaret 0f Navarre (1138-1183), the mother of William II, as evidenced by the mosaic inscriptions located under the windows of the left side of the transept.

According to sources the cathedral was built very quickly, as evidenced by the words of the Pope, who remarked that “Guglielmus illustris Siciliae Rex (...) 'brevi tempore' templum domino multa dignum admiratione construxit” ["William, the illustrious king of Sicily, built ‘in a short space of time’ a temple to God worthy of great admiration "]. The temple was almost certainly completed around 1185 by Bonanno da Pisa (active late 12th century). In 1189 William II died, and was buried in the cathedral; in more or less the same period the door in bronze of the nave to the north, by Barisano da Trani (active late 12th century), was also completed.

The death of the great Maecenas also coincided with a slowdown of construction due to lack of adequate funds, so the ceiling and the floor remained unfinished, while the towers to the east and north of the Cathedral was completed.

However, the work continued over the years, and because of the privileges of Monreale the necessary resources were confirmed by Emperor Henry VI (1165-1197) in 1195 and by Frederick II of Swabia (1194-1250) in 1220. The cathedral was consecrated 17 years after the death of Frederick II, in 1267 by Rudolph, Bishop of Albano (died in 1274). After its consecration, the work stopped until the end of 1400 and, indeed, the cathedral was left in a deplorable state of neglect, which was stigmatized by Pope Urban VI (1318-1389), who ensured that the maintenance works were undertaken.

New additions were made by the Cardinal Giovanni Borgia (1474-1497) in 1492 and then by Ferdinand II the Catholic (1452-1516), who provided new funds that allowed at least the restoration of floors, roof and floor mosaics in the front of the "Prothesis"[“Altar”], restored in 1518 by Pietro Oddo. The "Prothesis"was transformed in 1534 in "Altar of the Sacrament"by Baldassare Massa (16th century). In the sixteenth century, other works were performed by Vincenzo Gagini (1527-1595), and essential renovations were carried out in the seventeenth century by Bishop Luigi Alfonso de los Cameros.

During the first half of the eighteenth century several chapels were built, among which the chapel of SS. Crucified on the north side. In the early nineteenth century, the Cathedral was damaged by lightning, causing the collapse of the spire to the south, while a fire in 1811 destroyed part of the church, causing severe damage to the roof and mosaics. Restoration works continued through the 19th century and 20th centuries (by the Superintendence of Cultural Property in Palermo).

Today the Cathedral, after the restoration activities, shows itself in all its original beauty, of which the mosaics are the most peculiar part.

Visit the Cathedral and Monastery at Monreale

The façade of the cathedral consists of two large towers, according to the typical Romanesque style of the North, but the apses are decorated with a decorative braided pointed arches in Arab style, with geometric patterns. The interior is of Basilical shape, with three naves separated by columns. The three naves of the church have their own mosaics, consisting of about 130 paintings with hundreds of figures covering a total of about 10,000 square meters of mosaics.

Monreale mosaics

The arrangement of the subjects in the mosaics followed the structure of the Church, which in its most important parts was covered with the most significant topics of the Christian faith. So, for example, in the main apse was depicted the giant "Pantokràtor" (literally "The Creator of all things"), surrounded by Archangels, Cherubim, Seraphim, Prophets, Apostles, Bishops and Saints. In the two smaller side apses are represented some episodes from the life of Christ from birth up to Pentecost (the baptism, the temptations, the court of Pilate, the ascent to Calvary, death, Resurrection), and the most famous miracles (the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, healing the centurion's servant, the rehabilitation of the crooked woman).

The nave is dedicated to the most important events in church history, with stories from the Old Testament (the creation of the world, the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, Noah, Abraham, Lot, the destruction of Sodom, the fight between Jacob and the Angel), the episodes are framed by the faces of hundreds of figures within medallions (angels, saints, doctors of the Church, martyrs, prophets, hermits), among them stands out the face of William II the Good, shown twice; one above the royal throne, receiving the crown by Jesus Christ and in the opposite medallion depicting William II offering the Church to the Virgin Mary.

Beside the King’s figure, there are depictions of contemporary figures, even those seemingly distant from the Norman Court. The most striking example is, for example, the presence of the face of T. Becket (1118-1170), executed by Henry II (1133-1189). With regard to the presence of Becket there was a long discussion among the critics; however, the conclusiond of Kitzinger, one of the greatest scholars of the mosaics of Monreale, are very convincing : “[…] Of all the figures in the apse, one whose presence is not only unexpected but also of great interest from the historical point of view is the solemn image of T. Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, murdered in 1170 after several years of bitter struggle with the English crown in 1173 and canonized by Pope Alexander III (...) There is no denying that the presence of the Archbishop assassinated in a group including some of the most venerated of the early church bishops, martyred at the time of persecution may seem strange (...) but it has its most simple and natural explanation in the first wave of worship that followed his canonization[…]” (See Kitzinger, p. 19).

These scenes are linked by a glittering mosaic fabric (floral wreaths, geometric compositions, colored stripes, acanthus leaves). The background is very bright because it is completely browned. The educated and curious tourists will be wondering who were the authors of a so gigantic work. In this respect, unfortunately, we can provide little information. In general, we can say that the mosaics reflect the Byzantine and Romanesque style, and here and there we see Islamic influences

With regard to the workers who created the moneale mosaics it is difficult to give precise names, but it is presumed that the work was done by local workers, from the East artists and perhaps even the Venetians. It's a fact that for such a substantial work to be completed in a very short time, it could only be done by local workers, and therefore, according to A. Iacobini, workers were imported from Constantinople.

The immense building was a Norman "imitation" of early Christian basilicas of Rome, with a decorative scheme that was designated as "Tapestry".

Why were the mosaics built on such a grand scale?

To conclude this examination of the mosaics of Monreale, perhaps it is also worth asking what is the "hidder meaning"of this immense work cretaed by William II the Good. An interesting answer was given by P. Delogu, who interprets some mosaics of William II as an attempt to provide, through the Cathedral and the city (“urbs regalis”), a new interpretation of the Royal authority compared to that of Roger II: "[... ] The two mosaics of the Cathedral of Monreale, and a capital in the cloister of the same church [show] an interest to develop and transform the patterns introduced by Roger II, in a new way to express the character of his royal majesty. This is very clear in the mosaic that depicts Christ crowning the King, evidently taken from a pattern of Martorana mosaic that depicts a similar coronation of Roger II.

At Monreale the iconographic scheme was developed in order to achieve a greater grandeur. Christ is seated on the throne instead of his feet. Behind him are two angels carrying in the hand the insignia of the King of Sicily, the banner and the globe. The robe and crown are the same as those of Roger II, apart from an increased brightness in detail, but in essence, the meaning of the scene has changed. The message is not the declaration of direct divine origin of royal power, as the Heavenly "glorification"of the King. The legendary inscription “ manus enim mea auxiliabitur ei” [“In fact, my hand will always be his help” ] suggests the continued presence of Christ in the King’s actions[...]". So this iconography is to be a substantial glorification of the Royal power, always "near" to God.

It’s a great idea, which also came by a very young king, since he was crowned at the age of 12 in the Cathedral of Palermo. Moreover, he wanted the best artists for "his"Cathedral; the bronze doors, for example, were commissioned from Bonanno da Pisa, perhaps the best in Italy, and they were not prepared in Sicily but at Pisa, “and then transported via sea to Palermo”.

Monreale cathedral cloisters

After the mosaics, a must visit is the Cloister, on the southern side of the Church. The Cloister was also built by the will of William II. It is a remarkable example of Romanesque architecture, of square shape of 47 meters per side, and marked by over 200 small twin columns that support pointed arches. A special column is decorated with gold, mosaics, precious stones and lava. The ornamental belt over the arches is composed of lava and limestone. All the capitals are carved with subjects drawn from the Medieval “Bestiaries”, with some Biblical and Pagan figures, allegories of the months, acanthus leaves, putti and symbolic elements of no easy decoding. On a capital also appears the effigy of William II offering the Church to the Virgin.

Unlike the authors of the Mosaic, with regard to some capitals we know the name of an author of them, engraved on a capital on the north side. “ ‘Romanus’, son of Constantine, a marble worker”. In the southwest there is the “little cloister”, in whose center is a fountain that spurts water into the basin below.

Map of Monreale Cathedral