The Palatine Chapel is the royal chapel located within the Royal Palace In Palermo.
The Palatine Chapel was built by Ruggero II. It represents the expression of the cultural syncretism that distinguished the Ruggerian era, and one of the best preserved medieval monuments both in the architectural and in the decorative part. The building consists of a raised presbytery with a central plan and a longitudinal body with three naves: the first is characterized by three apses and a dome on a square base of Byzantine ancestry, while the second is distinguished by the presence of acute arches on high piers, supported by columns and bare capitals.
The Palatine Chapel preserves different cultures - Islamic, Byzantine and Western culture- which make the Chapel the most representative example of Mediterranean arts in the Norman Sicily. The extraordinary marble decoration in opus sectile of the floors and walls, extraordinary for the abundance of porphyry, the Byzantine mosaics of the presbytery (from the reign of Ruggero II) and the naves (from the reign of William I and that of William II) and the Islamic paintings on the wooden ceilings.
Unique in its kind is the extraordinary wooden muqarnas machine, starry polygons and domes of the central nave, the painted decorations of which constitute the largest complex of a medieval Islamic painting that has been preserved. The most impressive mosaic is the mosaic of Mosaic of Christ Pantocrator.
In this sacred place there are series of furnishings, monstrances and reliquaries that came into possession of the Palatine clergy over the centuries, constituting what was, since medieval times, the Treasure of the Palatine Chapel: particularly fifteen decorated ivory caskets, belonging to a class of eburneous objects, very characteristic of the Norman age of Sicily.
This truly is the most beautiful Chapel one can see in the entire Europe and we advise our visitors not to miss it while in Palermo. Since it is hard to describe with words the splendid of the Palatine Chapel we advise our visitors to take a look at the photos of this Chapel on our website. Be prepared to be amazed.
Ticket price for the Palatine Chapel and the Royal Palace
The Palatine Chapel + Royal Palace + the Royal Apartments
Regular ticket price: € 8,50
Reduced ticket price: € 6,50 (for students between 18 to 25 years old)
The Palatine Chapel + Royal Palace
Regular ticket price: € 7,00
Reduced ticket price: € 5,00 (for students between 18 to 25 years old)
! From Tuesday to Thursday the Royal Apartments are closed.
Working hours of the Palatine Chapel and the Royal Palace
The Royal Palace is open from Monday to Saturday from 08:30am to 5:40pm
