Cattedrale della Santa Vergine Maria Assunta

The monument that most represents the city of Palermo, is the Cattedrale della Santa Vergine Maria Assunta (Cathedral of the Holy Virgin Mary of the Assumption), built in the 12th century but heavily restructured in later centuries, which houses the tombs of the Norman Emperors and the sacred relics of St. Rosalia. It was built where in the pre-Muslim era a Christian basilica stood, on whose ruins the Arabs built the Gami Mosque in 831. Later it was returned to Christian worship by the Normans in 1072.