6,500 square metres of gold mosaic: the largest Byzantine mosaic cycle in Italy and, after Hagia Sophia, the largest in the world.
Distance
Area
Monreale
Visit
90 min
Entry
Ticketed
The story
Commissioned by William II from 1174 in open rivalry with the archbishop of Palermo, Monreale Cathedral was completed in record time. The walls are covered by a continuous mosaic cycle narrating the Old and New Testaments, dominated by the apse Christ Pantocrator, some thirteen metres high. The bronze door is by Bonanno Pisano (1186). Beside it opens the Benedictine cloister, with 228 paired columns, every one different.