Ersoy A.
Google
A detail make this cathedral very unique!!!
There is an Arabic inscription carved into a column at the entrance of the Palermo Cathedral in Sicily, Italy (see the photo #1)
The inscription is a verse from the seventh Surah (chapter) of the Quran.
It dates back to the Islamic rule of Sicily, a period from approximately the 820s to the 1070s.
Says: In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
During this era, the site where the cathedral now stands housed the Great Mosque of Bal'harm (the Arabic name for Palermo).
The presence of this inscription makes Palermo Cathedral the only one in the world with a passage from the Quran carved into one of its pillars.
Little bit of history😊
More than 1,000 years ago, in 832, Palermo, the principal city of Sicily, was conquered by Muslim forces from Ifriqiya, a historical region that incorporated modern-day Tunisia, eastern Algeria and parts of Libya. The island became a province of the Islamic empire, first under Aghlabid and then Fatimid rule.
Most remnants of the city’s Islamic history remain hidden or have been lost. Traces of this past are, however, still evident today along the Arab-Norman heritage trail, a Unesco World Heritage site, inspired by Arabian aesthetics and architectural techniques but built during Norman rule.
Now, as ever, Palermo remains a crossroads of cultures and is, once again, home to a diverse range of Muslim communities from countries including Bangladesh, Senegal and Tunisia...