‘It’s pure beauty’ – Italy’s largest medieval mosaics restored

On a hill overlooking the city of Palermo, in Sicily, stands the most famous gem of Italian art: the cathedral of Monreale.

Built in the 12th century under Norman rule, it contains the largest Italian Byzantine iconography, the second largest in the world after the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.

Now, this Unesco World Heritage site has been extensively renovated to bring it back to its former glory.

Monreale’s paintings were designed to entertain, humble and inspire the visitor who traveled through the Mediterranean, following the landscape of Constantinople, the capital of the Roman Empire that existed in the east.

It covers an area of ​​over 6,400 square meters and contains approximately 2.2kg of solid gold.

The renovation took a year, during which time the church was turned into a building site, with scaffolding traps set up over the altar and transept.

Local experts from the Italian Ministry of Culture led a number of steps, starting with removing the black dust that has been present on the paintings for years.

He then repaired some tiles that had lost their enamel with gold leaf, making them look like black spots from the floor.

Finally, he stepped into the area where the tiles were peeling off the wall and protected them.

Working as a photographer was difficult and a big responsibility, says Mr. Nicola Gaglio.

He has been a priest here for 17 years and has followed the restoration closely, unlike the frightened father.

“The team approached the project almost entirely on their own terms,” ​​he tells me.

“Sometimes unexpected things happened that they had to stop the work to find a solution to the problem.

“For example, when they got to the ceiling, they realized that they had previously been covered with varnish that had turned yellow. They had to cut it off, basically, like a cling film.”

The art was partially restored in 1978, but this time the intervention had a larger area and included changing the old lighting design.

“There was a very old system. The light was low, the electricity was through the roof and it didn’t do justice to the beauty of the pictures,” says Matteo Cundari.

He is the Country Manager of Zumtobel, the company that was commissioned to install the new lights.

“The biggest challenge was making sure we were highlighting the art and creating something that responded to the different needs of the church,” he adds.

“We also wanted to create a completely flexible system, something that could be changed in 10 or 15 years without destroying the building.”

The first phase of the works cost 1.1 million euros. The second, facing the center of the nave, prepares for the next one.

I ask Fr Gaglio what it was like to see the scaffolding come down and the pictures taken in a new light. He laughs and shakes.

“When you see it, you’re in awe and you can’t think about anything. It’s pure beauty,” he says.

“It is a responsibility to be a custodian of such a national heritage. This country needs beauty, because it reminds us of what is good in humanity, what it means to be men and women.”