Photos

La Martorana, the common name for the church of Santa Maria dell’Ammiraglio, is located in the Piazza Bellini in Palermo. It was built in the early 12th century and was modified and added to many times through to the 18th century, resulting in a hodgepodge of styles from Byzantine to Arabic to Baroque.

This view is of the central dome area, with the some afternoon light streaming through the windows onto the 12th century Byzantine crafted mosaics. This church, along with Cefalù and Monreale were probably crafted by the same group of people and together rival the other famous Byzantine mosaics found in places like St. Mark’s in Venice or the churches of Ravenna.