Description
The Martorana, or Santa Maria dell'Ammiraglio, is a Norman church from 1143 on Piazza Bellini, in Palermo's historic center, famous for its gold-ground Byzantine mosaics. It is part of the Arab-Norman itinerary declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Next to it stands the church of San Cataldo. Services are still held here in the Byzantine rite.
You enter through the 12th-century bell tower, a square tower with three tiers of large mullioned windows. Inside, the first part is 18th-century, with frescoed vaults. Then you reach the medieval church, the original core, with walls and dome covered in mosaics.
In the dome, Christ Enthroned dominates from above. Lower down come the four archangels and the patriarchs, while the evangelists sit in the niches. It is considered the oldest cycle of Byzantine mosaics in Sicily.
On the entrance wall are two mosaics not to be missed. In one, Roger II, dressed as a Byzantine emperor, is crowned by Christ himself. In the other, the admiral George of Antioch, founder of the church, prostrates himself before the Virgin to offer her the building.
At the far end of the sanctuary is a Baroque chapel inlaid with colored marble, designed by Paolo Amato: it replaced the original apse, demolished in the late 17th century. In the church you can also see an old iconostasis and large Byzantine icons of the Italo-Albanian community.
In 1194 the noblewoman Eloisa Martorana and her husband Goffredo founded a Benedictine monastery next to the church, and in 1433 the church passed to the nuns. The name "Martorana" comes from them. To adapt it to the Latin rite, in the 17th century they changed the apse and the front.
Then came the oranges. In September 1535 Charles V visited Palermo, but the orange trees in the garden were not yet ripe. The nuns shaped fruits out of almond paste, colored them and hung them on the branches. This, says tradition, is how Martorana fruit was born.
Since 1937 the church has returned to Byzantine worship. It is the seat of the parish of San Nicolò dei Greci, a landmark for the Italo-Albanians of Palermo, who pray in ancient Greek and in Albanian.
Don't miss
• The dome mosaics.
• Roger II crowned by Christ.
• George of Antioch at the feet of the Virgin.
• The bell tower.
Did you know?
• Above the king is written "Rogerios rex": Latin words, but in Greek letters.
• George of Antioch also had the Admiral's Bridge built over the Oreto river.
• The interior appears in a scene of the 1999 film The Talented Mr. Ripley.
You enter through the 12th-century bell tower, a square tower with three tiers of large mullioned windows. Inside, the first part is 18th-century, with frescoed vaults. Then you reach the medieval church, the original core, with walls and dome covered in mosaics.
In the dome, Christ Enthroned dominates from above. Lower down come the four archangels and the patriarchs, while the evangelists sit in the niches. It is considered the oldest cycle of Byzantine mosaics in Sicily.
On the entrance wall are two mosaics not to be missed. In one, Roger II, dressed as a Byzantine emperor, is crowned by Christ himself. In the other, the admiral George of Antioch, founder of the church, prostrates himself before the Virgin to offer her the building.
At the far end of the sanctuary is a Baroque chapel inlaid with colored marble, designed by Paolo Amato: it replaced the original apse, demolished in the late 17th century. In the church you can also see an old iconostasis and large Byzantine icons of the Italo-Albanian community.
In 1194 the noblewoman Eloisa Martorana and her husband Goffredo founded a Benedictine monastery next to the church, and in 1433 the church passed to the nuns. The name "Martorana" comes from them. To adapt it to the Latin rite, in the 17th century they changed the apse and the front.
Then came the oranges. In September 1535 Charles V visited Palermo, but the orange trees in the garden were not yet ripe. The nuns shaped fruits out of almond paste, colored them and hung them on the branches. This, says tradition, is how Martorana fruit was born.
Since 1937 the church has returned to Byzantine worship. It is the seat of the parish of San Nicolò dei Greci, a landmark for the Italo-Albanians of Palermo, who pray in ancient Greek and in Albanian.
Don't miss
• The dome mosaics.
• Roger II crowned by Christ.
• George of Antioch at the feet of the Virgin.
• The bell tower.
Did you know?
• Above the king is written "Rogerios rex": Latin words, but in Greek letters.
• George of Antioch also had the Admiral's Bridge built over the Oreto river.
• The interior appears in a scene of the 1999 film The Talented Mr. Ripley.