Monreale

Finally, one of the pictures of Byzantine Mosaics came out. This is from the inside of the Cathedral at Monreale - on top are Adam and Eve, and in three layers, more or less all the juicy bits of the old testament are laid out in gold foil for the illiterate (the Latin is done in a blue marble, I think). Anyway, the real effect is in being completely surrounded by this stuff.



The convent next door to the Cathedral has columns which alternate between Classical and Arabian styles. As you can guess, the marketing is basically 'it was California in the 12th century!'



With the Normans playing the role of... well, lions eating something. This is from the base of a column in the Cathedral.