cathedrals and crypts

February 1, 2010  

On our first day on this beautiful island of Sicily we headed out bright and early to city of Monreale. Hiking up the cobbled streets to the town center, we arrived at the Cathedral in the center. Once again I had arrived at one of the million monuments that I had seen in art history classes and books and finally was coming to life in front of me. I walked into the cathedral and all the walls glistened with gold mosaics. White marble and deep blue, green and reds surrounded ever inch of the cathedral.  There was not one surface left without at least one tiny detail. 

Over the altar, in a huge dome, sat all the saints and the trinity in perfect mosaic gold overlooking the entire cathedral. We went up onto a somewhat terrace that wrapped around the upper part of the cathedral. After walking up the narrow staircase we arrived at a point that overlooked not only the courtyard of the cathedral but what seemed like all of Sicily. After exiting the cathedral we wandered around the little town for a while finding beautiful mountain and ocean views and winding streets with colorful doors and mosaic house fronts.

After leaving Monreale, we all headed to the University of Palermo to meet up with some Italian students there. All the students were in a translation Italian/English course. While there Giovanna gave a talk and tips about translation work.

We left the university, we headed to the Capuchini Crypt of Palermo. The crypt’s have about 6000 bodies visible and over 8000 in its holdings. The walls are lined with row after row of bodies now decayed after centuries of time. Some still with hair and beards, teeth, all still in clothing, however ripped and disheveled. One little girl, about 3 years old was perfectly preserved, with all of her skin, hair, and perfectly dressed still after about 100 years, and looked as if she was sleeping. The crypt itself so silent you could hear every step you took, you were afraid to whisper to disturb everything around you, both out of respect and in fear that a louder voice might cause bodies to cascade down the hall. (understandably since it was a religious site there were no pictures allowed, and I felt weird at the idea of snapping illegal photos of copses, but I do encourage a google at lease..) 

That night the entire group, all 22 of us, went out to dinner together. Eating, laughing and reminiscing on a wonderful day we all looked forward to the following day.