It is evident that the architectural features in the buildings of which the cathedral of Monreale is the type, were subordinate, in the eyes of their builders, to the mosaic decorations which cover every part of the interior, and are, in fact, the glory and pride of the edifice, by which alone it is entitled to rank among the finest of Mediæval churches. All the principal personages of the Bible are represented in the stiff but grand style of Greek art, sometimes with Greek inscriptions, and accompanied by scenes illustrating the Old and New Testaments. They are separated by and intermixed with arabesques and ornaments in colour and gold, making up a decoration unrivalled in its class by anything—except, perhaps, St. Mark’s—the Middle Ages have produced. The church at Assisi is neither so rich nor so splendid. The Certosa is infamous in taste as compared with this Sicilian cathedral. No specimen of opaque painting of its class, on this side of the Alps, can compete with it in any way. Perhaps the painted glass of some of our cathedrals may have surpassed it, but that is gone. In this respect the mosaic has the advantage. It is to be regretted that we have no direct means of comparing the effect of these two modes of decoration. In both the internal architecture was subordinate to the colour—more so, perhaps, as a general rule, in the Sicilian examples than in the North. In fact, the architecture was merely a vehicle for the display of painting in its highest and most gorgeous forms. Besides the mosaic pictures which adorn the upper part of the walls of these Palermitan churches, they possess another kind of decoration almost equally effective, the whole of the lower part of the walls being revêted with slabs of marble or porphyry disposed in the most beautiful patterns. The Martorana depends wholly for its effect on this species of decoration. In the Capella Palatina, and the church at Monreale, it occupies the lower part of the walls only, and serves as a base for the storied decorations above; but whether used separately or in combination, the result is perfect, and such as is hardly attained in any other churches in any part of Europe. [Illustration: 533. Portion of the Nave, Monreale. (From Hittorff and Zanth.)] Externally the Gothic architects had immensely the advantage. They never allowed their coloured decorations to interfere with their architectural effects. On the contrary, they so used them as to make the windows externally as well as internally their most beautiful and attractive features. [Illustration: 534. Lateral Entrance to Cathedral at Palermo. (From Hittorff and Zanth.)]