The breathtaking beauty of multiculturalism

Palermo’s Palatine Chapel and the Cathedral in Monreale

I can’t understand why more people don’t rave about my second most favourite buildings in the world (The Taj Mahal is top despite the crowds, because it is just SO perfect).  They alone are worth a trip to Sicily.
The Palatine Chapel in Palermo and the cathedral in nearby Monreale are breathtaking. They are incredibly glamorous, and a most beautiful fusion of cultural traditions that have spent most of their time in conflict.
The stunning Palatine Chapel in Palermo
The Palatine Chapel in Palermo
Arabic mosaics and muqarnas ceiling (as used in the Taj Mahal), Greek columns and Byzantine mosaics in glorious harmony.
They are the product of an extraordinary period in history.  The buildings were completed in 1143 and 1176 respectively, during the reigns of King Roger II and William II. Yes… Roger and William – not exactly the sort of names you’d expect from the southern Mediterranean. 
Up until the mid 800sAD, Sicily was ruled by Byzantine Greeks, before coming under Muslim administration for the next 200 years.  Then in 1061, while William the Conqueror was preparing to invade England, his compatriot mercenaries Roger de Hauteville and Robert Guiscard were busy seizing Sicily on behalf of a Muslim warlord.  He died a year later, and they decided to continue the conquest for themselves.
Norman gargoyles at Monreale Cathedral
Norman gargoyles at Monreale Cathedral
The cloister at Monreale
The cloister at Monreale – more exotic than its Norman counterparts!
The job done, the Normans were very much minority rulers and Roger’s son, Roger II, decided that the best way forward was to embrace multiculturalism.  Arabic, Greek and Latin were made official languages, alongside the Norman French spoken at court, and laws were instigated that granted rights to all Christians (Catholic and Orthodox), Jews and Muslims. To enforce this multiculturalism, Roger II set about carefully assembling the finest artists, craftsmen and scholars of the times from Constantinople, Fatimid Egypt, Italy and northwest Europe. Together they created treasures like his Royal Mantle (complete with Arabic calligraphy that would nevertheless be used later as a coronation robe by Holy Roman Emperors) and buildings like the Palatine Chapel and Monreale Cathedral.
Sadly, this period of prosperity ended in 1189 when Roger II’s grandson William II died without an heir. But these stunningly beautiful buildings survive with their Norman columns and gargoyles, Byzantine mosaics and Islamic tilework. A glorious testament to the power of multiculturalism.
The story of Noah and the Ark at Monreale Cathedral
by Chris

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