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Thursday, August 19, 2010

Monreale Duomo and San Giovanni degli Eremiti

Just outside of Palermo is the town of Monreale. Here, the Monreale Duomo presides over an earthen colored city. Built by the grandson of the man responsible for Palermo's Cappella Palatina, this church outmatches it in sheer size as well as grandeur. Like the Capella Palatina, it has mixed Norman and Arabian influences.


From the exterior, the church is beautiful, but blends into the buildings around it. Walking through its doors, however, brings about such a change. Sunlight streams in through an arched window at the back of the church and sets the golden mosaic-ed walls dancing with light. The light fades towards the front of the church, where even more impressive mosaics lay somewhat in shadow.


At the very front of the church was a huge representation of Christ Christ Pantocrator. This church, while perhaps not a particularly familiar name, is thought by many to only be outdone by the better known Hagia Sophia.


From near the rear of the church, it is possible to climb, for a small fee, into the tower. After climbing some stairs, you work your way down a shoulder wide passageway overlooking the cloister courtyard below. Keep your eye out for a palm sized hole in a wood panel to your left. Here you can peer out into the church from among the rafters. Eventually, the passage opens onto a catwalk across the eave of the church's tile roof, affording a better view of the well manicured courtyard below. Then briefly through another narrow passage and up a few more stairs, and you will arrive near the pinnacle of one of the churches towers, affording a look away towards Palermo and the sea.


The cloisters themselves can be accessed by leaving the church and heading around to a separate entrance. There is an additional fee to visit them as well. The main attraction here is that each and every column in the colonnade around the cloister is uniquely carved. We were fortunate enough to arrive at a time of day when the lighting showed these differences in shadow and light. We opted to settle for the view from the doorway, and followed our stomachs across the street to a sort of convenience store hybridized with a cafe.


After what sadly turned out to be Italian microwaved dinners, we headed back towards Palermo to visit San Giovanni degli Eremiti. This church turned mosque turned church again has a solidly middle eastern exterior, which was unfortunately, all we were able to see. Because the church was undergoing major renovations, we were not able to visit it. Instead, we climbed a nearby tower with a guide, who pointed out the prominent red domes, as well as several other prominent buildings throughout Palermo.


With that, we were finished with Sicily, and headed next towards the Island of Sardenia.

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