Explored: Palermo's concealed Islamic history
Palermo's Rich Islamic Heritage Reawakens
Palermo, a city in Italy, boasts a deep Islamic heritage that dates back over a thousand years. In 832, the city was conquered by Muslim forces from Ifriqiya, a historical region that encompasses modern-day Tunisia, eastern Algeria, and parts of Libya [1][2]. The island became a province of the Islamic empire under Aghlabid and Fatimid rule, becoming the center of the Emirate of Sicily.
Although much of the original Islamic architecture and artifacts have been lost or hidden, the city's Arab-Norman heritage trail, a UNESCO World Heritage site, showcases the blend of Arab-Islamic aesthetics and architectural techniques incorporated into Norman constructions, such as the 12th-century Zisa Palace [1][3].
Today, Palermo is again home to diverse Muslim communities from countries like Bangladesh, Senegal, and Tunisia. These residents and the broader population are actively reconnecting with the city's Islamic past through various means:
- Cultural recognition: Educational curricula and local awareness highlight Palermo's Arab past, fostering pride in the city’s beautiful monuments inspired by Islamic culture [1].
- Language and social ties: Many Sicilian words have Arabic roots, evidencing historical interactions between Arabic and local languages, and residents relate to cultural similarities with Tunisian communities [1].
- Religious diversity: The current Muslim population practices their faith, contributing to Palermo’s multicultural environment and renewing the city's status as a cultural crossroads [1].
- Artistic engagement: The built environment, arts, and festivals in Palermo increasingly acknowledge and celebrate Islamic influence as part of the city’s layered identity [1][5].
The work of Tehseen Nisar, a Pakistani academic and poet, is part of a wider project, Absent presence, on multi-religious encounters in cities across the world. Tehseen Nisar has lived in Palermo for three years and feels enmeshed in the city, not feeling like an outsider. He finds strong similarities between Palermo and his homeland, Pakistan [4].
Hejer Jouini, born in Palermo to Tunisian parents, stands at the 12th-century Zisa Palace, one of Palermo's key Arab-Norman sites. She feels proud of the city's Arab past and notes similarities between the Sicilian and Tunisian cultures [6].
Sirus Nikkhoo Sari Ghieh, who came to Palermo in 1980 to study architecture, found traces of Persian culture in the city's monuments that weren't mentioned anywhere and that no one knew about. Helena Russo, a dancer, performs the Sicilian muwashahat, a blend of Arabic musical poetry and dance developed in Al-Andalus in the 11th century, inspired by her imaginings of what the accompanying dance would have been like at the time of the Muslim presence on the island [5].
Cesare Tinì, who converted to Islam as a young man, founded Siqiliah, a musical group that fuses north African and Turkish traditions with those of the island. He has worked on the restoration of the mosaic floors of Palermo's Monreale cathedral [7].
Lamin Drammeh, an actor who arrived in Palermo from the Gambia 10 years ago, stands outside Palermo cathedral. Built by the Normans on the site of a former mosque, the cathedral blends Norman, Gothic, baroque, and Arab-Norman architectural styles. On one of the columns at the main entrance is an extract from the Qur'an [8].
The Absent presence project, funded by the European Research Council grant Multi-Religious Encounters in Urban Settings (2019-2025), aims to explore and document these encounters in cities across the world [9].
References: [1] https://www.britannica.com/place/Palermo [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emirate_of_Sicily [3] https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/24 [4] https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2021/jun/01/palermo-sicily-islamic-heritage-muslim-communities [5] https://www.thelocal.it/20200914/palermo-sicily-arab-music-and-dance-revival [6] https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2021/1/11/palermo-sicily-a-city-with-a-deep-arab-islamic-heritage [7] https://www.artforum.com/news/id=67719 [8] https://www.thelocal.it/20210310/palermo-sicily-muslim-actor-lamin-drammeh-on-his-journey-to-italy [9] https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/871153
- Incorporating elements of their homeland, some residents in Palermo, like Pakistani academic and poet Tehseen Nisar, strive to acknowledge the rich home-and-garden Arab-Islamic influences and traditions within the city's art and culture.
- As the city's lifestyle continues to evolve with its diverse Muslim communities, historical monuments such as the Zisa Palace serve as reminders of Palermo's home-and-garden Arab-Norman heritage, a blend of Arab-Islamic aesthetics and architectural techniques that have been preserved over time.
