Tag: Roger II
-
About 885 Years Old
King Roger II commissioned Palermo’s San Giovanni degli Eremiti (Saint John of the Hermits) in 1130. Completed in 1148, its red domes rise above a garden of citrus trees, roses, fichi d’india, and jasmine that was once flanked the city’s ancient Kemonia River. There is evidence that on its site was once a pagan building,…
-
Elegant Monument
The Cathedral of Cefalù was commissioned in 1131 by Sicilian King Roger II in homage to the Holy Savior, also known as Santissimo Salvatore, after the king found refuge from a storm on the shores of the town. The Duomo was built over subsequent years and centuries. Inside, its Byzantine-style mosaic of Christ Pantocrator is…
-
Norman “Laser Show”
Palermo’s Cappella Palatina boasts intricate mosaics like this detail that illustrates a mix of influences from Sicily’s cultural milieu of ancient Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Jewish, Arab, and Norman. Founded in 1132 by King Roger II and housed inside the Palazzo dei Normanni, the eye-candy artwork of the entire chapel may have been the rock-and-roll laser…
-
I Want to Eat Dinner with Roger II
After reading Sicily: Three Thousand Years of Human History by Sandra Benjamin, I became intrigued with Roger II, who was King of Sicily during the Norman period. The Normans, a people who descended from northern French, Norse, northern German, and Viking tribes, ruled Sicily for most of the 11th and 12th centuries. As Benjamin explains…