King Roger II of Sicily

On this day, a palm Sunday, the Palatine Chapel in Palermo was finally consecrated. Commissioned in 1132 by King Roger II, a Norman and the first official king of Sicily, the church took eight years to build and several more before the shimmering mosaics of unparalleled elegance that cover the entire interior were completed. Dedicated to Saint Peter and inscribed on UNESCO’s world heritage list, this magnificent chapel with its unique mixture of Byzantine, Norman and Fatimid architectural styles, is a fitting testimony to King Roger’s philosophy of religious toleration on an island that was already a melting pot of different cultures. Oscar Wilde wrote that in the Palatine Chapel one can only feel “as if sitting in the heart of a large beehive watching the angels sing.”

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