I admit that I am not a great fan of “must-see sights”, and the first time I visited the chapel was because Michelangelo was being exhibited at Palazzo Reale. I confess, I was wrong. Ten years ago, the newspaper The Daily Telegraph compiled its own list of the 23 most beautiful churches in the world. The Palatine Chapel was the only Italian church on it.
The chapel is golden mosaics, ancient columns, a “stone carpet” and, without a doubt, the most beautiful ceiling I have ever seen in my life. It is completely impossible to capture someone else’s emotions and describe it. I had never seen anything like it and stood still for several minutes, trying to take in the beauty above my head.
They say that this ceiling is an image of paradise. When you look up, you see a heavenly palace: there is music, dancing, birds, hunting, gardens and flowers — a separate world carved in a unique Arab style. In essence, it consists of numerous three-dimensional wooden stalactites, each of them unique — not a single figure or inscription is repeated.
By the way, on the Arab ceiling of a Catholic church there are inscriptions in Greek, Latin and Arabic — a rarity in Europe and a hallmark of the Arab-Norman style.