Norman Palace Chapel

For mere tourists, the main reason to visit the Norman Palace is its 12th century chapel, every square millimeter of which is adorned in incredible mosaic. The style and stories are quite similar to the somewhat younger Monreale, but, since it's a royal chapel and not an abbey church, thus smaller, the mosaics are much closer. And they are better lit and were cleaned relatively recently.

Thus; altar, dome...

Pantokrator pose again; turns out, upon further "research," that 
this term is best associated with the Almighty him/herself, and 
not with JHC; the authority for this is the the good old Book of 
Revelation, wherein God and Christ are generally used 
interchangeably, but Pantokrator used strictly with God; just 
another useful item of information, from the all-knowing and
self-correcting Wikipedia

Panning around the incredible walls

Familiar Old Testament scenes

Ditto

Ditto again

Plus some more New Testament scenes, here, the Baptism of St. Paul

The meeting of Saints Paul and Peter

And, the show-stealer for me, Peter and Paul disputing with Simon Magi, before 
Nero; if you want to catch a bit of the flavor of early Church "history,"  look up 
Simon  Magi; BONUS QUESTION: what is the important (if somewhat obscure)

connection between this scene and City Slickers?

Palermo's Norman Palace

One of Palermo's other major sights is its Norman Palace, dating from the 11th or 12th centuries...

Palaces are almost always slapped-together affairs of different

era, but this one deserves an award...

There are seven or eight different buildings/styles, just on

this western facade

In the interior large courtyard...just the beginning of the

mosaics (next post)

Cats love containers, episode #463,867

One of the main reasons to see the Norman Palace,

especially if you're a Sicilian, is that it houses the highest

levels of Sicilian government; this, I think, is in the cabinet

meeting room, a depiction of Sicily's ancient and current

symbol, the triskelion

As seen on the Sicilian flag; "and now for something
completely different..."

In the Chinese Room, an 18th century

depiction  of a Chinois personne, with very

interesting head-gear, possibly demonstrating

use of a small satellite dish



 

And, in other state rooms, much original furniture, decor,

more incredible mosaic...and this is only the beginning

Palermo Interlude

Some less weighty subjects from our days in Palermo...

Interior of the McDonald's at the central station; they sell

pizza, and, of course, there's a bar

McDonald's is very Italian (and Romanian,

and Turkish and Greek)

Birds on a building near the Piazza Bologni, where we had

a nice lunch

At a place call Prima Vera

Sicilians, like other Italians, don't like their

prime minister...

Palermo, from Monreale

At Monreale, padlocks, tokens of commitment, something

we have not seen since Wulingyuan in China



The Bay at Sferrocavallo, where we camped 4 nights



At Camping degli Ulivi

Thus

Benedictine Cloister at Monreale, 2011

The cloisters were not particularly attractive, except for the hundred or so sculptured column capitals ranged around. They were another delight, in a completely different medium, especially knowing so little such work has survived elsewhere.

The cloisters

Typical

In the corners, the columns also were carved

Possibly not a Biblical subject; nearly like some of the

secular Norman carving we saw near Hereford (well, of course)

Dragon

Adoration

Slaughter

Caption needed...

More weirdness

Jousting

In days of old, when knights were bold...

More Monreale, 2011

Just a few of the Old Testament scenes. All of them are narrated, in Latin, so I will offer my own rough translation.


Creation of Eve from Adam



Now I've given you this really nice garden to live in; DON'T

SCREW UP!

Cute snake!



Adam, come look at the cute snake



So what's with the fig leaves?!

And don't ya come back no more, no more, no

more, no more...

Life is hard, especially without modern fabrics

And then there are the kids...always rough-housing

And so on; the Normans appeared very interested in the

Rebecca story, with several panels, but, sorry, nothing about

Rachel; we looked hard...



Monreale, 2011

The most impressive sight in Palermo is a few miles, and a long bus ride, out of town, the church and abbey cloister of Monreale, created by Roger II in the 12th century. It is Norman in architecture but the interior is the largest and most extravagant (and intact) set of mosaics we have seen. Nothing remaining from the Byzantine world compares, at least in scope and size. The church--which is cathedral-sized--is poorly lit, so the pix do little justice to the mosaics. Most of them are 40-50-60 feet up in the air, on the walls, and are more than life-sized. But they are a delight. Gold and gold-leaf are everywhere.

I was so impressed with the interior, I forgot

to do any decent shots of the exterior; here

are the towers at the bow of the church

And the old bronze west door

Interior

Closer-up; Jesus H. Christ, Pantocrator

Ditto

The major scenes depict episodes, stories

from the Old Testament, life of Jesus, and

lives of saints, in three ever-higher bands all

around the the building; here's Jesus (halo)

healing the leopards (spots)

And dropsy

And the money-changers



Crucifiction of St. Peter

To be continued. I know, I know, I am going to burn in hell,

forever and ever. Amen.