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"Un
mondo arabo-normanno ..., prima del mio soggiorno a Palermo non
immaginavo che potesse esistere un simile amalgama e che potesse
dar forma a luoghi così maestosi come la Cappella Palatina. In
un solo posto si concentra quasi tutta la storia del
Mediterraneo. Una cappella cristiana, con mosaici
bizantini, decorata da artigiani musulmani! ... E adesso conosco
tutta l'ampiezza e la forza del legame che esiste tra fonti
originarie immaginate incompatibili"
Thierry Fabre - Traversate
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Da
timesonline.co.uk
In the 12th century, Palermo was one of the
grandest cities in Europe, with a population of
250,000 Italians, Jews and Arabs, ruled by exuberant
Norman overlords. So pleased were they with their
southern conquest, they built a bunch of
mosaic-filled churches to say thanks.
Before the Normans rolled up, Sicily was ruled by
sultans from North Africa. But instead of erasing
these Arab influences, the new conquerors married
the sensuous Islamic architecture to their own
Romanesque tendencies – with tinges of Gothic.
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