Description
The Norman Palace is considered the oldest royal residence in Europe. It stands in Palermo, at the top of the Cassaro, the street that runs down to the sea, and it houses the Palatine Chapel, one of the richest places for mosaics in all of Sicily. Today it is home to the regional parliament.
The Palatine Chapel is a small three-aisled basilica, commissioned by Roger II and consecrated in 1140. Byzantine gold-ground mosaics cover the dome, the transept and the apses: at the center of the dome is the blessing Christ Pantocrator, surrounded by angels, prophets and evangelists. The aisles tell the story of Genesis and the lives of Peter and Paul.
Look up and there is another surprise, the wooden ceiling. It was made by masters of the Fatimid school, with painted stalactite-style coffers and Kufic inscriptions. Among birds and fantastic animals you can spot scenes of hunting, dancing and chess, with human figures that Islamic art elsewhere avoided.
The palace also holds the Hall of King Roger, in the oldest tower. Walls of mosaics with palm trees, peacocks, centaurs and royal hunts recall the park of the Norman kings. The Hercules Hall, with the hero's labors painted in 1799 by Giuseppe Velasco, is where the Regional Assembly meets.
The foundations are older than the kings. Underneath are traces of Phoenician-Punic fortifications, then came the Qasr, the residence of the Arab emirs. The Normans, once they had conquered Palermo, made it the center of their kingdom.
At the court of Roger II scientists, poets and musicians gathered, and precious fabrics were woven in the workshops. Then the palace fell into decline: in 1549 the historian Fazello wrote that the Chapel could be seen through the ruins. It was saved by the Spanish viceroys, who chose it as their residence and enlarged it.
The Pisan Tower was the keep where the treasures were kept: in the floor four large jars are still walled in, meant to hold gold coins. According to tradition, in the Swabian era the Sicilian poetic school, frequented by Frederick II, met there. Around it, the Maqueda courtyard has two tiers of Renaissance loggias.
Don't miss
• The wooden ceiling of the Chapel.
• The Christ Pantocrator in the dome.
• The Hall of King Roger.
• The Hercules Hall.
Did you know?
• Here in 1177 William II married Joan, sister of Richard the Lionheart.
• Outside the chapel, an inscription in Latin, Greek and Arabic recalls a water clock from 1142.
• Guy de Maupassant visited it in 1885 and wrote about it in his pages on Sicily.
The Palatine Chapel is a small three-aisled basilica, commissioned by Roger II and consecrated in 1140. Byzantine gold-ground mosaics cover the dome, the transept and the apses: at the center of the dome is the blessing Christ Pantocrator, surrounded by angels, prophets and evangelists. The aisles tell the story of Genesis and the lives of Peter and Paul.
Look up and there is another surprise, the wooden ceiling. It was made by masters of the Fatimid school, with painted stalactite-style coffers and Kufic inscriptions. Among birds and fantastic animals you can spot scenes of hunting, dancing and chess, with human figures that Islamic art elsewhere avoided.
The palace also holds the Hall of King Roger, in the oldest tower. Walls of mosaics with palm trees, peacocks, centaurs and royal hunts recall the park of the Norman kings. The Hercules Hall, with the hero's labors painted in 1799 by Giuseppe Velasco, is where the Regional Assembly meets.
The foundations are older than the kings. Underneath are traces of Phoenician-Punic fortifications, then came the Qasr, the residence of the Arab emirs. The Normans, once they had conquered Palermo, made it the center of their kingdom.
At the court of Roger II scientists, poets and musicians gathered, and precious fabrics were woven in the workshops. Then the palace fell into decline: in 1549 the historian Fazello wrote that the Chapel could be seen through the ruins. It was saved by the Spanish viceroys, who chose it as their residence and enlarged it.
The Pisan Tower was the keep where the treasures were kept: in the floor four large jars are still walled in, meant to hold gold coins. According to tradition, in the Swabian era the Sicilian poetic school, frequented by Frederick II, met there. Around it, the Maqueda courtyard has two tiers of Renaissance loggias.
Don't miss
• The wooden ceiling of the Chapel.
• The Christ Pantocrator in the dome.
• The Hall of King Roger.
• The Hercules Hall.
Did you know?
• Here in 1177 William II married Joan, sister of Richard the Lionheart.
• Outside the chapel, an inscription in Latin, Greek and Arabic recalls a water clock from 1142.
• Guy de Maupassant visited it in 1885 and wrote about it in his pages on Sicily.