#austinpowersref

So we drove into Palermo (this is when I figured out we drove through it the day before) and we went straight to Cappella Palatina, a Norman Palace in the City. This place was amazing, for me personally, because...I love goooooooooold! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOFAnpb8I3E) This Norman King, as all Norman kings evidently did in Sicily, just had to show his faith (read wealth) by building a magnificent chapel church thing in Palermo. Roger II (yes Dad, his name, the King's name, was Roger) had it built in 8 year, being finished in 1143. The cool thing about the Norman rule in Sicily is that the Normans, being of the North (nor[th]-man), did not capture Sicily with a large population. After sacking Rome, a part of the Norman army continued South and attacked Sicily. In fact, they were hired  by one of the Islamic Caliphs to fight another Caliph because they were having a territory spat. The Normans helped the Caliph, but soon realized the island was in such disarray that they could conquer the whole thing. Which they did. But anyways, back to my point, the Normans essentially slipped into the elite of Sicily, but kept most of the Arab workers, etc, so while this is a chapel to the J-Dawg and all that, it is built with Muslim architecture. The raised arches and the ceiling are the clearest example of the muslim influence in the building of the Cappella Palatina. The first picture shows what you can see from the throne, and the fourth picture is what was above the throne. Needless to say, good old Roger thought his rule was legitimized by divine powers. The last two photos are different rooms in this building. The one on the left is another room, depicting in gold, the hunting that took place on the island. The other picture, on the right, is a shot of the chamber of the Sicilian Parliament. Sicily boasts the first ever parliament, and today this is where the Parliament meets, under a tremendous painted ceiling.