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Palermo Cathedral

Metropolitan Cathedral of the Assumption of Virgin Mary
Cattedrale metropolitana della Santa Vergine Maria Assunta
Panoramica Cattedrale di Palermo.jpg
Palermo Cathedral
Basic information
Location Palermo, Italy
Geographic coordinates 38°06′52″N 13°21′22″E / 38.11444°N 13.35611°E / 38.11444; 13.35611Coordinates: 38°06′52″N 13°21′22″E / 38.11444°N 13.35611°E / 38.11444; 13.35611
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
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 St. Gregory 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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