THE IMPOSING CATHEDRAL OF PALERMO

A visit to the wonderful Cathedral of Palermo is, in itself, a valid reason to justify an entire stay in the city.

Consecrated to Santa Maria Assunta, since 2015 it has been one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Arab-Norman Palermo and can be reached in less than 20 minutes on foot from Arché Design Rooms & Suites, walking along the busy pedestrian area of the historic center A destination for believers and non-believers alike, the Cathedral of Palermo never ceases to amaze and reveal millenary secrets.

The ancient history of the Cathedral, is not only linked to the Christian-Catholics but still preserves the traces of the Islamic and Norman dominations that have followed one another over the centuries, as well as clues to its use as a fortress and funerary temple for the sovereigns of the Kingdom. Built on the ruins of an ancient early Christian basilica, during the Arab occupation of the city it was transformed into a mosque and then converted to Christian worship place in 1072 with the arrival of the Normans.

During the reign of William II, the archbishop of Palermo, known as Gualtiero Offamilio, ordered a rich reconstruction financed by a treasure that, legend has it, was found outside the city walls. Since then, the Cathedral has undergone continuous restorations and additions that today make it appear as an elegant aggregate of Arabesque, Nordic, Neoclassical, Gothic-Catalan and Baroque elements. From the Islamic period, for example, it preserves the large ogival arches of the portico, surmounted by sinuous arboreal and anthropomorphic sculptural elements and a half-hidden inscription taken from the Seventh Sura of the Koran, engraved in relief on one of the columns that inaugurate the entrance. The most evident signs of this stylistic syncretism are the majestic Baroque dome of eighteenth-century origin and the spires, towers and pointed arches of the large side portico in Gothic style.
To glorify the balustrade that surrounds the churchyard of the Cathedral, 20 statues of saints including, along the front, those depicting the 5 protectors of Palermo to whom the citizens still address a strong devotion today.

Like a casket that hides other valuable treasures ,in the interior of the Cathedral such as the lapis lazuli ciborium, the chapel of the patron saint of Palermo, Santa Rosalia, who houses her remains in a silver urn, the crown and jewels of Constance of Aragon and the royal sarcophagi in marble and porphyry of the Sicilian monarchs, including that of Roger II, The first king of Sicily, that of Emperor Frederick II, known as the Stupor Mundi, and that of Empress Constance of Hauteville.