Interior of Palermo Cathedral

The interior was shaped by the renovations at the end of the 18th century by Ferdinando Fuga.

The cathedral was built as a classical basilica in the shape of a Latin cross. The piers conceal the columns that originally supported the arches between the nave and the side aisles.

The interior contains some valuable statues , such as the marble Madonna and Child by Francesco Laurana in 1469 and the Madonna della Scala by Antonello Gagini from 1503 on the altar in the new sacristy.

To the right of the choir is the chapel of Saint Rosalia. The relics of the patron saint of Palermo are kept in a silver urn from 1632. Other silver urns store the relics of Saint Cristina and Saint Ninfa.

The royal tombs are located in a chapel in a side aisle.

The "treasure of the cathedral" is exhibited in the rooms of the Sacristy of the Canons. In 1638, the statue of Santa Rosalia by Bartolomeo Travaglia is placed in the entrance room of the "Treasury".

On the floor, starting from the chapel of San Francesco di Paola, begins the sundial created in 1801 by the Theatine astronomer Abbot Giuseppe Piazzi, one of eight existing in Sicily.

The crypt contains the sarcophagi of the archbishops of Palermo, of which some are reused Roman sarcophagi. The showpiece of the collection is the crown , which was modeled on the crown of the Byzantine emperor

Willem Vandenameele