We can admire the gigantic pulpit (homily platform), set with gold, malachite and porphyry, and the Easter candelabrum, a veritable marble bestiary, donated by Archbishop Ugo of Palermo on the occasion of the coronation of William, son of Roger II.<\/p>\n
The mosaics are the finest products of Byzantine art, without equal in any of the churches of Constantinople. The Christ Pantocrator<\/strong> in the dome, the angels surrounding him<\/strong> and the Evangelists absorbed in their studies<\/strong>, which are the the oldest mosaics<\/strong>, stand out. Finally, the Islamic tradition is represented by the wooden ceiling with muqarnas<\/em> (stalactites), the most unpredictable covering for a Christian church. It is, in fact, the classic ceiling that we would expect to find in the largest and most elegant mosques, but never in a church. Intricate decorations adorn the stalactites and, uniquely in the history of Islamic art, these decorations include human figures. Arabian artists, in the tolerant atmosphere of Norman Palermo, were persuaded to venture into this type of figure and so, with the help of binoculars, we can now discern realistic scenes of everyday life of dignitaries and busy maidservants.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We can admire the gigantic pulpit (homily platform), set with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":52350,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1931],"tags":[],"luogo":[1859],"stagione":[1874,1877],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n