Mediaeval Sicily, aspects of life and art in the middle ages . ySiculo-Byzantine), and in the side apses also severalcharming little Sicilian forms. Among the smaller churches, two small RoyalChapels must first be mentioned, both resemblingthe Cappella Palatina, but very small and hencemodified in arrangement, one at the palace ofFavarah and one at the Zisa. Both have tinyniches instead of apses for the prothesis anddiakonikon, a narrow sanctuary running acrossthe breadth of the church in front of them anddivided off from the nave by a wall with a centralarch. The dome of the Favarah chapel is
Mediaeval Sicily, aspects of life and art in the middle ages . ySiculo-Byzantine), and in the side apses also severalcharming little Sicilian forms. Among the smaller churches, two small RoyalChapels must first be mentioned, both resemblingthe Cappella Palatina, but very small and hencemodified in arrangement, one at the palace ofFavarah and one at the Zisa. Both have tinyniches instead of apses for the prothesis anddiakonikon, a narrow sanctuary running acrossthe breadth of the church in front of them anddivided off from the nave by a wall with a centralarch. The dome of the Favarah chapel is supportedon angle niches, the dome of the Zisa chapel on,as it were, a saddle of honeycomb brackets andsquinches of masonry, built out from the wall andthus ingeniously converting the oblong into anoctagon for supporting the dome. The little church of S. Giovanni dei Lepprosihas been mentioned above (p. 138). In type itresembles the Cappella Palatina on a smallerscale. Of the many other Arabo-Byzantine churchesthat grew up in Palermo during the twelfth170 L. SAN GIOVANNI DEGLI EREMITI century only four now remain : Sant Antonio,now dressed up in queer Romantic trappings ;Santa Maria Maddalena, semi-ruined and bare ;and the two now so well-known churches of SanGiovanni degli Eremiti and San Cataldo, bothhardly recognisable among the debris of centuries,when Patricolo set about the work of restoration,after Sicily had become Italian. The domes ofSan Cataldo were actually discovered accidentally,it is said, in a loft above the board ceiling of whatwas then the post office, in a queer disused oldbuilding that had once been a church. Bothchurches are now carefully restored, and internallyprovide excellent opportunities for sober study,while externally they contribute a good deal togive Palermo its Oriental physiognomy ; SanCataldo, with its three red dish-cover domes andpretty battlements, San Giovanni with five domes,rising above the luxuriant vegetation of the charm-ing well-know
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Keywords: ., boo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectart, bookyear1910
