Once upon a time in Palermo, when Islam and Christianity were walking side by side

Violence, murders, slaughters of innocent people, but also monuments and works of art, especially in Palmira, destroyed by human hands, or illegally sold. As it is sadly known, Daesh has been killing culture, not only human beings, to establish itself and fight what Russia and Turkey are proving not to be a religious conflict at all. While international bombs are going to clear away even the traces of what extremists had already damaged or demolished, we would like to remind you that there were at least time and places in history when Islam and Christianity were walking side by side, thereby generating extraordinary works of art and architecture which are still a living and well preserved part of the world’s heritage.

 

At the end of the X century Sicily became an Emirate, controlled by an Islamic army located in Palermo, the region’s wealthy capital – that will soon come in the spotlight of contemporary art for hosting the upcoming edition of Manifesta, the European Art Biennial. According to art history that period was a golden age during which lavish private palaces, Mosques and markets were built in the style of the Islamic architecture of North African and Middle Eastern main capitals. And some of these architectures were so beautiful and efficient that when a century later the Sicilian Muslim regime collapsed under the pressure of Roger I’s soldiers, the new Christian Norman king preferred to preserve them, in certain cases. Moreover, since 1019, that is to say when Palermo passed definitely under Norman control, Muslim artisans and architects were frequently involved in the construction of the new Norman aristocracy’s residencies and palaces, generating a unique mix of elements that UNESCO officially included in the World Heritage List last July.

 

The so called Arab-Norman Palermo consists of nine religious and civic structures dating from the era of the Norman kingdom of Sicily, that goes from 1130 to 1194. Two of them are palaces, the Royal Palace, including the lavish Palatine Chapel, and the Zisa. This latter was completed around 1167 and was the favorite summer residence of the king and his court. Its name derives from the Arabic “al-Aziz” that means the beautiful one. Over the centuries it has undergone several transformations. The most relevant among them occurred in 1635, when many Baroque elements were added including a fresco known as the Devils of the Zisa. It pictures a series of figures that are, it is said, impossible to be counted, for they were painted in a counter-clockwise direction.

 

The UNESCO Arab-Norman Palermo includes also six religious buildings, three cathedrals and three churches. The first cathedral is that of Palermo, while the two others are part of the municipalities of Cefalù and Monreale. They are both located just a few kilometers from Palermo’s city centre. The three iconic churches are that of San Giovanni degli Eremiti; Santa Maria dell’Ammiraglio; and San Cataldo (all of them are in Palermo). The church of St. John of the Hermits is a main medieval building built between 1130 and 1148. The inner space is shaped by a cubic structure surmounted by a dome, a modular element that is repeated five times, two in the aisle, and three in the transept. The combination of the squared and circular elements, symbolizing the dialogue between the earth and the sky, occurs in both the Fatimid Islamic culture and in the Byzantine one. The interior of the church is bare but cozy. The entire structure, including the Medieval cloister, is surrounded by a luxuriant vegetation that looks itself like being a part of the architecture scheme.

 

The last member of the Arab-Norman Palermo would be the Admiral’s Bridge.  However, we would like to add one more building, Palace Abbatellis, to this UNESCO’s list meaningfully intended to “celebrate the fruitful coexistence of people of different origins”. This patrician building, refurbished by Carlo Scarpa in 1953, preserves an extraordinary collection of artworks, most of which are evidences of a positive dialogue between Christianity and Islam. Among masterpieces here conserved- from the gold funds up to works by Mattia Preti, Francesco Laurana, Antoon Van Dyck, Mathias Stomer, and Luca Giordano – there are two paintings that deserve to be taken into consideration these days. In the case of the first one, the monumental “Triumph of Death”, by an unknown Sicilian painter it is needless to say the reasons why we mention it. On the contrary, as far as the hypnotic Holy Mary painted by Antonello da Messina around 1476 is concerned, it could be of some help to note that the veil Mary is wearing while receiving the news of her pregnancy, is very similar, not to say identical, to the one a Muslim woman would wear at the time, or even today. Two religions come together through the same symbol, and in humanity, in a city like Palermo, where the name of some streets are still written both in Italian and Arabic.

November 25, 2020