Palermo - Santo Spirito

Sicily, the largest Mediterranean island, has a long history, that starts around 8000 BC, but later there were Phoenician, Carthaginian, Greek, and Roman periods. After the Roman Empire had fallen apart the Vandals tried to take over the island but failed. Finally, the Ostrogoths took possession.
Mid of the 6th century Sicily was conquered by troops of the Byzantine Empire. After the advent of Islam, Sicily got attacked by Arab forces. Raids seeking loot continued until the mid-8th century.

A Muslim army was sent to the island in 827 but met with much resistance. So it took a century to conquer it and even later revolts constantly occurred

In 1038 the Byzantines invaded the island supported by Norman mercenaries, led by Roger. In 1072, after the siege of Palermo, most of Sicily was under Norman control. Roger´s son Roger II raised the status +of the island to a kingdom in 1130. During this period, the Kingdom of Sicily was prosperous and powerful,

The court of Roger II became melting out of culture from Europe and the Middle East. This attracted scholars, scientists, artists, and artisans. Muslims, Jews, Greeks, Lombards, and Normans cooperated and created some extraordinary buildings.

In 1186 the last descendant of Roger, Constance of Sicily married Emperor Henry VI, the second son of Barbarossa. So the crown of Sicily was passed on to the Hohenstaufen Dynasty. Frederick II, the only son of Constance, was crowned King of Sicily at the age of four in 1198. He became "Stupor Mundi", one of the greatest and most cultured men of the Middle Ages.

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Palermo, founded in 734 BC by the Phoenicians, became a possession of Carthage and later was part of the Roman Empire. From 831 to 1072 the city was under Arab rule. Following the Norman conquest, Palermo became the capital of a new Kingdom of Sicily and the capital of the Holy Roman Empire under Emperor Frederick II and King Conrad IV.

The oldest cemetery in Palermo is the Sant'Orsola Cemetery belonging to a brotherhood founded in 1551, the Venerable Society of S. Orsola. It is also known as "Camposanto di Santo Spirito", as located in its center is the church Santo Spirito which was part of a Cistercian abbey, founded between 1173 and 1178 by the Archbishop of Palermo. The first monks came from the monastery of Sambucina, thus it belonged to the filiation of the abbey of Clairvaux. Considerable donations from King William II of Sicily and his mother Margaret supported the foundation.

On March 30, 1282, at the time of Vespers on Easter Monday, in in front of the church, an incident took place, which is believed to have sparked the Sicilian Vespers. Therefore the church is also called Chiesa del Vespro (Church of Vespers).

At the beginning of the 16th century, King Ferdinand attached the monastery to the Hospital of Palermo (Grande Ospedale), and still today Palermo´s largest hospital is just a few 100 meters apart. In 1783 all the monastery buildings were demolished except for the church.

I have already uploaded a lot of photos previously taken in Palermo. Now I will add only a few. If you want to see more, follow this link:
www.ipernity.com/doc/323415/album/1333402