cupied by a very numerous population of extremely
various origin. The newcomers could do no more than add their own forms
to those previously in use; the consequence being in every case a mixed
style, containing elements derived from every portion of the
inhabitants.

Palermo, being on the northern coast, has felt the Norman influence
strongly. Its architecture is principally Romanesque in form, with a
generous admixture of Byzantine and Saracenic motives in detail and
decoration. Exuberance of detail and wealth of color are the rule.

Under the Norman conquerors the Sicilians built as they were directed.
Their arts and their civilization were superior to those of their
masters, and the Normans were apparently willing to make use of this
superiority, and merely adapted the forms of decoration and methods of
construction which they found here in use to their own needs and
purposes. The polychromatic decoration of the buildings of this
neighborhood, such as the interiors of the Capella Palatina and the
cathedral at Monreale, ranks among the most successful, if it be not the
most successful, work of its class now in existence. It is thoroughly
Oriental in character, although applied to buildings intended for Roman
ritual. On account of the great superiority of the Moors in art and
civilization, not only to the Normans but to all the other inhabitants
at the time of the Norman conquest, in the eleventh century, many of the
buildings of this period show very little Norman influence. In fact the
Oriental character is so extreme in some instances, such as the church
of San Giovanni degli Eremiti, that there is very little to suggest that
it was Norman and intended for Norman uses.

The village of Monreale is situated on the steep mountain-side about
five miles to the west of and overlooking the city of Palermo. The
cathedral and the cloister-adjoining it on the south were both parts of
a Benedictine convent, which is now mostly in ruins. They were erected
by King William the Second, between the years 1174 and 1182, and richly
endowed by him. The plan of the cathedral is that of a basilica.

The famous cloister, with coupled columns and clusters of four in the
corners, and with a charming fountain and a separate little square of
cloisters around it, as it were, in one corner of the open space, is one
of the most interesting relics of Palermo. In arrangement it follows the
style universal in the countries bordering on the Med