Monreale is a large cathedral and monastery complex in the hills above Palermo. The cathedral's mosaics are the most extensive medieval mosaics in the Mediterranean world, done by Byzantine artists to 12th century Norman tastes. The cloister is merely one of the best in Europe, featuring a couple hundred skillfully-carved capitals, no two of which are the same. We visited Monreale in 2011 and were impressed. Further pix of the cloisters and capitals are
here. Apologies for duplicates, but, hey, this stuff is that good. And it's been seven years.
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Looking to Palermo and the coast from Monreale; alas, the clouds never went
away that Monday, contrary to the forecast |
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| Holy gymnast; or possibly some sort of Kama Sutra thing |
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| Bull bonking |
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| A bit of the cloister |
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Attracting a large number of onlookers, including us, this man, meticulously
cleaning the capitals |
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| Holy hula dancers |
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| Still processing this one |
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| Ditto |
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| Many of the columns have embedded mosaic designs |
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| Post mortem, it says |
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| King Roger presenting the cathedral to Madonna con Bambino |
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| Knights a-jousting |
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| Leopard |
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| Interesting patriarchal double cross |
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| Great place |
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