Palatine Chapel. Mosaics of the presbytery. Palermo

In the second half of the XI century, Normans who arrived from the north of Europe won Sicily in Arabs and many areas of southern Italy in Greeks. As a result, the Sicilian kingdom arose, in the culture of which the traditions of medieval smelled, the Christian and Arab East were intertwined. In the XII century, it became one of the strongest states in the Eastern Mediterranean, and the brilliance and luxury of Palermo competed with the capital of the Byzantine Empire - Constantinople. The Norman kings ran away, the Norman Kings were invited, who adorned their palaces and churches with mosaics. So in Palermo and its surroundings, there were outstanding works of the Byzantine art of the highest level - mosaic of the Palatinsk Capella and the Church of Maroranan in Palermo, Cathedrals Cefalu and Montreal. The Palatinsk Capella was founded by King Roger II (1130-1154), which in 1143 goal invited to decorate his house church of Constantinople artists. With his life, the mosaics of the eastern and central part of the church, crowned with a dome (the so-called premiece), were completed. Mosaics fully comply with the Byzantine traditions and in style, and in the choice of plots, among which the gospel scenes and individual images of Christ, the Mother, Angels and Saints prevail. Refined classic beauty and spiritual depth of the images of Byzantine Mosaics in this building are connected with a luxurious decorative design, filled with Arabic and Norman masters