The Cathedral of Monreale is just 10 miles from the center of Palermo (20 minutes if the traffic is light - which apparently it rarely is). The church is one of the main attractions in Sicily, and all of Italy, too. It was built outside of Palermo during the time when the Arabs occupied Palermo, when the Catholic Bishop moved out. After the Normans drove out the Arabs in 1072, the Catholic Bishop moved back into Palermo. But this souvenir of the exile is a magnificent display of Arab influence through the use of Byzantine tiles. The brilliantly colored glass mosaics laid on a gold background cover the entire surface of the upper walls. The tiles are tiny and intricate, yielding art that looks like painting. The images tell the Bible stories to the probably mostly illiterate church-goers who have worshipped here since its dedication in 1182. This church is the largest display of Byzantine mosaics in Italy.
I am not exactly a Biblical scholar, so I was limited in my ability to pick out the bible stories from the pictures on the walls.
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| Depiction of the story of Noah's Ark (obviously) |
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| Eve emerging from Adam's rib |
The Adam/Eve story was tucked in the farthest corner of the top ceiling of the back of the church. A fellow traveler spotted it. Being virtually impossible to grab a decent photo because of the low light and the weird contortions needed to get the right angle, I resorted to the next best thing. I took a photo of a postcard in the gift shop outside the church.
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| Postcards in the gift shop - took a pic of the pic |
