Cathedral of Palermo
| Metropolitan Cathedral of the Assumption of Virgin Mary Cattedrale metropolitana della Santa Vergine Maria Assunta |
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Palermo Cathedral
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| Basic information | |
| Location | Palermo, Italy |
| Geographic coordinates | 38°06′52″N 13°21′22″E / 38.11444°N 13.35611°ECoordinates: 38°06′52″N 13°21′22″E / 38.11444°N 13.35611°E |
| Affiliation | Roman Catholic Church |
| Province | Archdiocese of Palermo |
| Ecclesiastical or organizational status | Cathedral |
| Status | Active |
| Architectural description | |
| Architectural type | Church |
| Architectural style | Norman, Moorish, Gothic, Baroque, Neoclassical |
| Groundbreaking | 1185 |
| Completed | 18th century |
| Official name: Arab-Norman Palermo and the Cathedral Churches of Cefalù and Monreale | |
| Type | Cultural |
| Criteria | ii, iv |
| Designated | 2015 (39th session) |
| Reference no. | 1487 |
| State Party |
 Italy
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| Region | Europe and North America |
Palermo Cathedral is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Palermo, located in Palermo, Sicily, southern Italy. It is dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. As an architectural complex, it is characterized by the presence of different styles, due to a long history of additions, alterations and restorations, the last of which occurred in the 18th century.
The church was erected in 1185 by Walter Ophamil (or Walter of the Mill), the Anglo-Norman archbishop of Palermo and King William II's minister, on the area of an earlier Byzantine basilica. By all accounts this earlier church was founded by Pope Gregory I and was later turned into a mosque by the Saracens after their conquest of the city in the 9th century. Ophamil is buried in a sarcophagus in the church's crypt. The medieval edifice had a basilica plan with three apses, of which only some minor architectural elements survive today.
The upper orders of the corner towers were built between the 14th and the 15th centuries, while in the early Renaissance period the southern porch was added. The present neoclassical appearance dates from the work carried out over the two decades 1781 to 1801, and supervised by Ferdinando Fuga. During this period the great retable by Gagini, decorated with statues, friezes and reliefs, was destroyed and the sculptures moved to different parts of the basilica. Also by Fuga are the great dome emerging from the main body of the building, and the smaller domes covering the aisles' ceilings.
The main façade is on the Western side, on the current Via Bonello, and has the appearance set in the 14th and 15th centuries. It is flanked by two towers and has a Gothic portal surmounted by a niche with a precious 15th-century Madonna. Two lintelled ogival arcades, stepping over the street, connect the façade to the bell tower in the front, annexed to the Archbishops Palace. This has a squared appearance adorned in the upper part by a fine crown of smaller belfries and small arcades.
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