Our spring semester 2014 journey brought us to Sicily. The first extraordinary thing about this
field trip was the diverse range of participants.
There were
Over these six days, we had the great opportunity to study many monuments in Palermo and its surroundings. We spent Monday morning in Cefalù, carefully observing and exploring its architecture, both exterior and interior. The afternoon was dedicated to a visit to the San Cataldo church in Palermo. Other sacral monuments in Palermo we visited in following days included the Cathedral, the Martorana church, beautifully decorated with mosaics, the austere Cistercian church of Santa Maria Maggiore, and Santa Maria dello Spasimo, which is now more or less a ruin, but with a very unique atmosphere. We also visited Palazzo Reale (also known as Palazzo dei Normani) and paid special attention to the Capella Palatina, located inside. We were allowed to enter the choir of the chapel directly, which is normally closed to visitors. This allowed us to take a closer look at the mosaic decorations. Later, we visited the Zisa and Cuba palaces, where we observed the intertwining of Arabic and Norman cultural elements. We saw the collections of the museum in Palazzo Abatelis and the Museo Diocesano. We had to go to Monreale twice (once would definitely not be enough). The Monreale dome is an excellent example of what we encountered throughout the trip – a mixture of Byzantine, Norman, and Arabic elements.
The clash of these different worlds formed Sicily, and the remnants of this can be seen in surviving monuments to this day. This field trip was a special chance to explore the mixture of cultures to an even larger extent than usual. This time, we witnessed not only a mixture of Eastern and Western culture, but also the strong influence of Arabic culture. It is exactly this vivid mixture that provides the extraordinary character of Sicilian monuments.
Ivana Molnárová
(Translated by Lada Řezáčová)
