John Julius Norwich, another contributor to the Art of War, has an article in today's FT on Norman Sicily:
[Palermo's] old Royal Palace still stands, containing the Palatine Chapel that Roger II built in the 1140s on the upper floor, and which, almost unbelievably, succeeds in translating the political achievement into visual terms.
Its form is that of a western basilica, with a central nave and two side aisles, separated by antique granite columns, all with richly gilded Corinthian capitals, drawing the eye along to the five steps that lead up to the choir. Western, too, though whispering of the south, are the richly ornamented pavements, with the golden and coloured mosaic inlays of the steps, balustrades and lower walls – to say nothing of that proudest of pulpits, studded with gold and malachite, flanked by a 15ft carved paschal candlestick in white marble. But if we look to the wall mosaics, with which the whole chapel glows gold, we come once again face to face with Byzantium. King Roger could afford the best and he got it. Here are works of which the finest church in Constantinople would have been proud.
Full article here.
