This particular church was founded in the twelfth century originally as a Byzantine rite church.. Over successive centuries the church would pass into various hands, including to those in the Latin rite, however, by the late 1930's the church was once again restored to the Byzantines, specifically the Italo-Albanian community of Palermo.
The original church structure followed the typical Byzantine 'cross in square' plan but as the centuries mounted so too did the modifications to the church. Additions were made to the structure that geared it more toward a Latin cruciform plan, a Latin rite style baroque altar was added withi a new apse, as were baroque sculptural reliefs and frescoes. Within the nineteenth century, some restoration efforts were undertaken to at least partially restore the church's more historical Byzantine character -- though not entirely; the present church is still a mixture of Byzantine and Latin rite elements, though for our purposes today, I am going to exclusively focus in on the Byzantine elements.
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| One will note the baroque frescoes and sculptural elements seen within the new apse. |
The church even contains design elements showcasing Islamic influences -- for example, one can find Arabic language inscriptions within the church, some of which are of texts taken from the Byzantine liturgy.
What the church is most renowned for, however, is its stunning cycle of twelfth century Italo-Byzantine mosaics. Here is just a small selection:
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| The main dome in the old centre of the original Greek cross shaped church |
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| Christ Pantocrator |
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| One can see here the later baroque additions that were added to the church within its new apse. |
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| The Archangel Michael |
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| The Archangel Gabriel |
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| St. Joachim |
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| St. Anne |
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| St. Andrew and St. Peter, Apostles |
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| St. Philip and St. Thomas, Apostles |
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| This particular detail shows just how refined many of these mosaics are. They have an expressiveness to them akin to iconography that is not easily achieved in mosaic work. |
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| St. Paul and St. James, Apostles |
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| The Dormition of the Virgin |
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| Christ crowning Roger II, King of Sicily and Africa |
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| The Blessed Virgin with George of Antioch, the founder of the church. |
The quality of these mosaics is really second to none, but the church is also noteworthy not only for these, but also for reason of its beautiful opus sectile work found on the church's pavement as well as for the balustrade separating the sanctuary from the nave.
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| Detail from the balustrade |
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| Detail from the balustrade |
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| Detail of the pavement of the church |
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| Detail of the pavement of the church |
Speaking personally, I find Italo-Byzantine churches to be some of the most fascinating churches of any place or period. I hope you've enjoyed this little tour as much as I have.
