San Cataldo (Palermo)
San Cataldo is a church building in Palermo . It is located not far from the city center on the south side of Piazza Bellini next to the La Martorana church and is dedicated to St. Cataldo .
The church was built from 1154–1160 under Maio von Bari , the Grand Admiral of King Wilhelm I , as his private church. It is one of the last churches in Sicily in the Arab-Norman style .
On the cube-shaped building, the facades of which are decorated with blind arches and only have small windows in their upper part, three hemispherical domes sit in the longitudinal axis, each on a cylindrical drum with windows. At that time, this type of construction was found more frequently in Apulia , the homeland of Maio, so that these churches were probably a model for San Cataldo. In contrast to the La Martorana church, which was originally designed as a central building, San Cataldo was designed as a longitudinal structure from the start. The upper edge of the cube building is decorated with an ornamental sins and a circumferential band with Kufic writing.
The interior of the church has three aisles. The aisles are separated from each other by round arches that rest on ancient columns with Corinthian capitals . The walls are made of carefully grouted stones that are clearly visible. Elements typical of the Arabic-Norman style include: a. the columns set into the corners of the wall and the transitions to the dome drum in the form of a simple muqarnas with stepped pointed arches.
The symbol of the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher , who owns the church today, is attached to the door and window of the central apse .
San Cataldo is also a popular church for weddings.
literature
- Brigit Carnabuci: Sicily. Greek temples, Roman villas, Norman cathedrals and baroque cities in the center of the Mediterranean (= DuMont art travel guide ). 6th, updated edition. DuMont Reiseverlag, Ostfildern 2011, ISBN 978-3-7701-4385-6 .
Web links
Coordinates: 38 ° 6 ′ 53.3 " N , 13 ° 21 ′ 44.8" E