The central ceiling of the Cappella Palatina in Palermo, Sicily was constructed and painted between 1140 and 1143, followed by the side aisle ceilings that were completed by 1180. The Norman king Roger II (r. 1130–1154) built the chapel.
The Cappella Palatina represents the visual amalgamation of three distinct cultures. It combines a Latin basilica plan with a Byzantine central plan where the domed sanctuary and the walls of the nave and aisles are covered with Byzantine mosaics, but the ceilings of the nave and aisles are distinctly Islamic.
The provenance of the craftsmen and artists who constructed and painted the ceilings remains a question of speculation among scholars. Most contend the artists and craftsmen were imported from other areas of the Islamic world. However, the possibility that the central ceiling’s construction and paintings are Sicilian innovations developed while the island was under Islamic rule (ca. 831–1072) must be considered.
The meaning of the ceiling’s construction and decoration expresses the marvels and wonders—the ‘ajā’ib—that is integral to Islamic thought and philosophy. The paintings comprise a visual manifestation of the oral traditions of the ancient Middle East and of the increasingly written documentation that occurred in the early Islamic period. In the Cappella Palatina they constitute a continuation of imagery that likely was used in the Muslim palaces of Palermo. They celebrate the worldly authority and magnificence of a highly cultured court and the myriad pleasures and duties of the royal majlis, and by extension, the Islamic vision of the heavenly realm.
The photographs were taken by Tom Klobe in 1973–74 using a 35 mm Nikon F and Nikon 300mm Zoom Telephoto lens with strobe lighting.
See the book The Islamic Ceilings of the Cappella Palatina in Palermo — Other Views at https://www.mazdapublishers.com/book/the-islamic-ceilings-of-the-cappella-palatina-in-palermo