III, elevated to the rank of a metropolitan cathedral. The church is a national monument of Italy and one of the most important attractions of Sicily. Its size is 102 metres long and 40 meters wide. The façade is characterized by two large towers (one partially destroyed by lightning in 1807) and a portal with Romanesque bronze doors decorated by Bonanno Pisano. The interior is on the Latin cross plan, divided by ogival arcades, and features fresco cycles executed during the reigns of William II and Tancred of Sicily (c. 1194). The cloister has 228 small columns, each with different decorations influenced by Provençal, Burgundian, Arab and Salerno medieval art. Other sightsCastellaccio'' ("Bad Castle"), an example of a fortified convent on the Monte Caputo, at 764 m above sea level. It was built in the 12th century by King William II together with the Cathedral and the annexed monastery. It measures c. 80 x 30 m on an irregular plan with four towers on the western side, a middle tower and an entrance tower on the eastern side. Abbey church of San Martino delle Scale, founded in the 6th century AD. It is on the Latin cross plan with a dome, a choir with paintings by Paolo De Matteis (1727), two small side apses, chapels in the transept and ten chapels in each of the aisles. The interior was decorated in 1602 with stuccoes. The baptismal font near the sacristy is from 1396. Church of Collegiata (16th-19th centuries) Church of Santa Ciriaca Church of San Silvestro International relations Monreale is twinned with: Bielsko-Biała, Poland Notable people Rocky Segretta (1899–1953), American football player See also Arab-Norman Palermo and the Cathedral Churches of Cefalù and Monreale References External links Monreale tourist guide Adrian Fletcher’s Paradoxplace – Monreale Cathedral and Cloisters Municipalities of the Metropolitan City of Palermo Norman architecture in Italy World Heritage Sites in Italy Arab-Norman Palermo and the Cathedral Churches of Cefalù and Monreale