San Giovanni degli Eremiti (St John of the Hermits) is an ancient former monastic

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

located on Via Benedettini #19 in the ancient quarter of Albergaria of the city of

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

, region of

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

, Italy. It is about two blocks south from the

Palazzo dei Normanni The Palazzo dei Normanni (Norman Palace) is also called Royal Palace of Palermo. It was the seat of the Kings of Sicily with the Hauteville dynasty and served afterwards as the main seat of power for the subsequent rulers of Sicily. Since 1946 ...

, adjacent to the church of San Giorgio in Kemonia. While the interior is virtually devoid of decoration or furnishings, the red Norman-Byzantine domes, the medieval cloister ruins, and garden make this small church a symbol of ancient Palermo.

History

A church and a Benedictine monastery existed at the site date prior to the 6th century. Pope Gregory the Great is said to have patronized its establishment. The seventh-century

Pope Agatho Pope Agatho (died January 681) served as the bishop of Rome from 27 June 678 until his death. He heard the appeal of Wilfrid of York, who had been displaced from his see by the division of the archdiocese ordered by Theodore of Canterbury. Du ...

took orders at this monastery. It is said that the Saracen conquerors closed or razed the monastery, perhaps converting the church to a mosque. After the

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

conquest, circa 1136, the site was restored by

Roger II of Sicily Roger II ( it, Ruggero II; 22 December 1095 – 26 February 1154) was King of Sicily and Africa, son of Roger I of Sicily Roger I ( it, Ruggero I, Arabic: ''رُجار'', ''Rujār''; Maltese: ''Ruġġieru'', – 22 June 1101), nicknamed Rog ...

to Benedictine Benedictine monks of Saint William of Vercelli . The church was dedicated to St John the Evangelist. It is not clear why the church gained the tag of ''Eremiti''. While it is possible that it refers to the cloistered Benedictine monks (hermits, from Greek ''eremìtes'', monks), but it could be that the name was derived from the nearby church of San Mercurio, known as ''Ermes'' in Greek. In the 19th century, under the guidance of

Giuseppe Patricolo Giuseppe Patricolo (1834 – 1905) was an Italian architect and engineer, best known for restoring many of the medieval, including Norman architecture, buildings in and near his native Palermo in Sicily. In 1866, he was named professor of descri ...

, director of the Royal office for the conservation of monuments of Sicily, the structures were restored aiming for his perspective of their original medieval appearance.

Architecture

The church is notable for its brilliant red domes, which show clearly the persistence of Arab influences in Sicily at the time of its reconstruction in the 12th century, the Arab-Norman culture. In her 1882 ''Diary of an Idle Woman in Sicily'', Frances Elliot described it as "... totally oriental... it would fit well in

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

". However, the red color of the domes are not original, as they were painted in this color by Patricolo who found pieces of red plaster on the domes and therefore decided to paint all the domes in red. The church lies with a flank on a square construction. The church is on the Latin Cross plan with a nave and two aisles and three apses. Each of the square spans is surmounted by a dome. The presbytery, ending with a niche, has also a dome. The cloister, enriched by a luxurious garden, is the best preserved part of the ancient monastery. It has notable small double columns with capitals decorated by vegetable motifs, which support ogival arches. It also includes an Arab cistern.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:San Giovanni Degli Eremiti 12th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Giovanni degli Eremiti Arab-Norman architecture in Palermo Monasteries in Sicily Norman architecture in Italy Churches with Norman architecture Gothic architecture in Sicily World Heritage Sites in Italy Arab-Norman Palermo and the Cathedral Churches of Cefalù and Monreale

History

Architecture

See also

References