Chiesa e Convento San Domenico - Erice

The Dominican preachers founded this monastery in 1486 , to which was attached the church of San Michele , which was a cultural and religious center for centuries and became a priory in 1670.

From 1595 to 1621 the Dominicans expanded the old little church of San Michele when it was given to the Preaching Friars. The facade of the church has a fifteenth-century portal , enriched by a Renaissance-inspired pronaos added in 1862. The wooden vault was completely covered and decorated with recessed stuccowork and arabesques, the columns became pillars with Corinthian capitals . Today, nothing reminds of the previous use of the interior, while the exterior has remained unchanged.

The monastery underwent several extensions over time and a restoration in 1858.

The building with a rectangular plan and a square pronaos above it is now used as a conference room of the International Center for Scientific Culture “Ettore Majorana”.

willem vandenameele