Parco Reale

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La Zisa, one of the castles in the Parco Reale

The Parco Reale ( Royal Park ) in Palermo is a former park that mainly stretched west of the medieval city. It was built by the Norman kings of Sicily and served as a hunting ground. Artificial lakes, water basins and fish ponds as well as several castles and smaller buildings were built in the park. Today the park is largely built over by the expanding city, but some of the old buildings have been preserved.

history

Even before the Norman conquest of Palermo, there was an extensive park in the south of the city. Between 1130 and 1150, King Roger II had a palace of the Kalbites that was located in this park, the Palazzo di Maredolce , also called Palazzo della Favara, repaired and expanded.

In addition to this old park ("Parco Vecchio") in the south of the city, Roger II had a new park ("Parco Nuovo") laid out in the west of the city. This park bordered the Norman Palace to the west and extended to the mountains surrounding the Conca d'Oro . Roger II had the parks surrounded with a wall, planted trees and settled fallow deer , roe deer and wild boar there. In the new park he had the palaces Palazzo di Parco and Palazzo dell'Uscibene built.

Rogers son William I started in the "Genoardo" (from Arab. Djannat al-'ard = paradise on earth) called recent part Parco Reale in 1165 with the construction of the castle of La Zisa , the first under his son William II. Was completed . He also had the Cuba soprana (upper Cuba), the Cuba sottana (lower Cuba) further down the valley and several small pavilions, of which only the Cubula (small Cuba) has survived .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Report by Archbishop Romuald of Palermo, 1149

literature

  • Museum Without Borders (Ed.): Arab-Norman Art - Sicily's Culture in the Middle Ages . International cycle of exhibition streets Islamic Art in the Mediterranean, Ernst Wasmuth Verlag Tübingen Berlin, 2004, ISBN 3803041023

Web links

Coordinates: 38 ° 6 ′ 28 "  N , 13 ° 20 ′ 33"  E