Church of Santa Maria dell’Ammiraglio (Palermo, Italy)

The Church of Santa Maria dell’Ammiraglio, also known as La Martorana, is a church located in Palermo, Sicily.

History 

The church was founded around 1143, and was originally named after George of Antioch, the Ammiraglio (“admiral”) of King Roger II of Sicily. 

The building was eventually absorbed by a convent of nuns founded by Eloisa Martorana at the end of the 12th century. Since then it has been known as La Martorana and became famous also because of the marzipan sweets made by its nuns, the Frutta martorana.

Architecture and Art

The edifice is considered a mix of different architectures and styles: we can find Byzantine, Norman, Baroque and Islamic elements.

When the church was originally built, it had a Greek cross plan that has since been rebuilt several times.

During its existence, the church was expanded three times through the addition of a narthex, a dorehall and a campanile, which is now used as the main entrance.

Certain elements, such as the external and the internal inscriptions (figure 1), but also the niches and the carved wooden doors show the influence of Islamic architecture. 

 Figure 1 

An inscription in Arabic inside the church.  Note. Intorre, M., December 29, 2021     

Interesting are the Byzantine mosaics (figure 2), that depict King Roger II and George of Antioch with Jesus and the Virgin; Christ Pantokrator and the archangels St Michael, St Gabriel, St Raphael and St Uriel. Included are also the eight prophets of the Old Testament, the four evangelists of the New Testament, the Nativity and the Death of the Virgin.

The Baroque frescoes, recently restored, were painted in the 1700s, among the others, by Guglielmo Borremans, Gaetano Lazzara, Vincenzo da Pavia and Olivio Sozzi.

Figure 2                         

A detail of the mosaics.                   Note. Intorre, M., December 29, 2021.

The Church Today

Since 1937, the church has been used by the Italo-Albanian Catholic Church, which still uses the Byzantine rite. The languages used during the services are the ancient Greek or Albanian; the latter is also used by the community and the priest, who both still have strong links to their Albanian heritage.

It is now part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site known as Arab-Norman Palermo and the Cathedral Churches of Cefalù and Monreale.

The church is open tourists from Monday to Sunday and the entrance ticket costs €2.

Resources:

Albanese I., (n.d.). Chiesa della Martorana di Palermo: storia, arte e visita. Retrieved January 6, 2022 from https://www.viaggiamo.it/chiesa-della-martorana-palermo/?refresh_ce