visual culture 303
With its conscious imbrication of Byzantine, Islamic, and European visual sources,
the Cappella Palatina references the linguistic and cultural diversity of Roger II’s
Sicilian trilingual court. As a domed basilica, its very space fuses the centrally-planned
eastern Mediterranean traditions (Middle–Byzantine) with western-European basili-
cal architectural customs. Whereas this aspect of its design is not exceptional, as the
domed basilica has a longer history in Sicily and the Levant, the interior reveals a
much more unique iteration of Mediterranean cultural identity. Its eastern sanctuary,
with three apses according to eastern traditions, is clad in glimmering mosaic work of
Byzantine facture and design, replete with imagery of the Pantokrator and Greek
inscriptions (which commemorate the completion of the program in 1143).
“Byzantinizing” mosaic work continues in the nave but dates to Roger’s successors
and is clearly the work of western-trained artisans (even the inscriptions are in Latin).
The gilded wooden ceiling of the nave, however, consists of Islamic muqarnas,
Figure 19.4 Interior of Cappella Palatina, Palermo, Sicily. Alinari/Art Resource, NY.
No. ART71078.