Monreale Cathedral Sicily April 2025

When the guide book says if you only see one church in Sicily, make sure it is the Cathedral of Monreale. But Monreale has some issues. The first issue with Monreale is that it is filled floor to ceiling with incredibly intricate mosaics. And that leads to its second issue, it is simply huge, so big it is difficult to wrap your mind around.

Located about 4 miles south of Palermo overlooking the Conca d’oro Valley (the Golden Shell)
is a cathedral which probably should not have been there. The Monreale Cathedral is 335 feet long and 131 feet wide and about 180 feet tall. This provides room for over 70,000 square feet of glass mosaics. Around the outer edge of the nave, high up on the walls where they can be seen by everyone are 22 mosaics from the Book of Genesis and 11 mosaics from the Old Testament.

After the Moors overtook Sicily, the Bishop was forced to move from Palermo to Monreale into a small church. After the Norman Conquest of Sicily in 1072, the Moors were removed from power and the Bishop was allowed to return to the cathedral in Palermo.

The area where the Bishop had resided in Monreale was redesigned by the Norman kings as a hunting resort. Palaces were built and people moved to the area.

Which brings us to story behind the Monreale Cathedral. According to legend, the Monreale Cathedral is there because King William II stopped for a nap, and in a dream was visited by the Virgin Mary. She would reveal a hidden treasure to him, but the money was to be used to build a church dedicated to her.

Or, the cathedral might be there because his former tutor, Walter of the Mill had the ear of the Pope and was increasing his influence as the Archbishop of Palermo. To curb Walter’s influence and political growth, King William quickly built the cathedral in Monreale between 1174 and 1178. Benedictine monks moved into the cathedral and the Benedictine Abbot was elevated to archbishop status. This curbed Walter’s power, but it also gave Palermo two archbishoprics six miles apart. The fully completed structure, with the interior mosaics and associated abbey was completed by1267.

With the newly consecrated cathedral in 1189 came generous gifts of land in the Palermo area, which is also interpreted as wealth and power. The influence of the Benedictine Archbishop quickly overcame Walter’s diocese, and King William II had his archbishop and his cathedral. Unfortunately King William died in November that year. He was 36 years old and had made no succession plan. William II was followed by Tancred I, the illegitimate grandson of Roger II, who was king from 1130 to 1154. Tancred I ruled Sicily from 1189 to 1194, marking the beginning of the end of Norman rule in Sicily.

Видео Monreale Cathedral Sicily April 2025 канала Robert Schleef