A closer view of the main altar. You cannot see it, but there is a good painting on the ceiling above the altar. One has to work with the light at hand �" no flash photography.

This is the Sacrament Chapel. It has gilded stucco and much lapis lazuli. It was designed in 1653.

A view of the nave from one of the side altars. I noted with interest that the pews were rarely fixed to the floor in most of the churches we entered. However, there were signs admonishing visitors to not move the chairs or pews.

This is the chapel of the patron of Palermo, Saint Rosalia. This was created in 1635 by metalsmiths from all over Palermo. It is amazing!

The altar of the Immaculate Conception, completed in the 17th century. There are many small chapels, I photographed only the ones that were super-impressive to me. Also within the cathedral are many crypts of church and lay people, many valuable relics and more.

One of the many reliefs. I am not sure what this depicts.

Here is part of one of the most interesting things at Palermo Cathedral. Traversing the floor in a perfect north/south orientation is a Heliometer (solar observatory). Each day at solar noon, a hole in one of the domes will allow sunlight to enter and shine on this long line. It has all the zodiac signs so that each will be highlighted at the correct time/date throughout the year. Created in 1690, it allows the people of the church to know when the solstice is and when the equinox occurs. The latter is important as it establishes the date of Easter (first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox). I took lots of pictures of this unique thing; however most did not turn out good enough to share.

This denotes dates. I believe it is in Latin and I did not do well with my two years in high school. I believe it is a timeline of the Palermo Cathedral using names that I do not recognize. The church does have a Web site that provides information about the history of the church. It also shows all the chapels and some of the crypts and more.

We did not visit the Palermo Cathedral long enough to see it all. It had been a busy day already and we still had not eaten our mid-day meal and we had three more stops before we returned to the ship.