The Apse Mosaic of Monreale Cathedral, William II's Foundation
The apse of Monreale, begun by William II of Sicily around 1174 and covered with Byzantine-style mosaic by Greek craftsmen for a Norman king in an island with an Arabic-speaking population. The church was a claim to authority as much as an act of piety.
William II founded Monreale a few miles from Palermo, endowed it lavishly and had it raised to an archbishopric — which conveniently created a rival to the archbishop of Palermo, who had been the crown's most obstructive subject. The Sicilian monarchy governed Latin, Greek and Muslim communities at once, and its buildings advertise exactly that: Norman structure, Byzantine mosaic, Islamic ornament. The crisis of 1177 was about whether a king could hold that together. See William II's struggle to secure authority in the kingdom of Sicily.
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