The cathedral of Monreale, above Palermo, was erected by King William II (1167/71-1189) in a royal park on the site of an earlier Greek church. Work on the structure and its decoration was largely completed by the death of the king in 1189. The church was consecrated to the Assumption of the Virgin.
The interior is impressive in its spaciousness and rich decor. Not only are there mosaics throughout, but also large antique columns with decorative capitals, marble paneling on the lower wall surfaces, and an ornamental floor in the sanctuary. The mosaics cover the upper portions of the walls of the sanctuary and the nave, in all a surface area of roughly 7.600 sq m. The Monreale Cathedral thus presents the most extensive mosaic decor in Italy, surpassing even Venice's San Marco.
The focus of the multifigured program is the main apse calotte with its half-figure of Christ Pantocrator, which far surpasses all the other figures in style. The main motif in the lower part of the apse is an enthroned Madonna and Child between archangels and apostles. The apse calottes hold large enthroned images of the apostles Peter and Paul, and the walls present scenes from their lives.
An extensive cycle on the life of Christ unfolds in three registers across the walls of the crossing and the transepts. The mosaic decoration continues in the nave where forty-two scenes from the Genesis are depicted in two registers. In the side aisles the mosaics depict Christ's miracles.
| Summary of Italian mosaics |
| Early Christian mosaics |
| Rome | Ravenna |
| Mosaics in Rome |
| Santa Prassede |San Clemente | Santa Maria in Trastevere |
| Mosaics in Sicily |
| Cathedral of Cefalů | Cappella Palatina, Palermo | Cathedral of Monreale |
| Mosaics in Venice |
| Basilica di San Marco |
| Mosaics in Florence |
| Battistero di San Giovanni (Baptistery) |
| Other mosaics |
| 11th-12th centuries | 13th-14th centuries |
| Mosaicists |
| RUSUTI, Filippo | TORRITI, Jacopo | CAVALLINI, Pietro |
| CIMABUE | GIOTTO | GIAMBONO, Michele | ANDREA DEL CASTAGNO |
