This book explores the making and meaning of one of the most enigmatic and singular interior spaces of the Middle Ages, the mosaic incrusted chamber commonly known as the 'Room of Roger' in the palace of the Norman kings of Sicily in Palermo. The unique way in which Byzantine technique, skill and style are blended with Maghribi Islamic perspective conventions and iconography while producing aesthetic interaction as well as obvious tension, serves as a starting point for an investigation of the various currents of artistic exchange and dynastic pretensions between Palermo, Constantinople, Norman Antioch and the Maghrib. Political aspirations in the Levant, Almoravid splendour in Fez and Marrakech, and the ever-present rival, the Byzantine emperor, all come
to play a part in the making of the famous 'Camera di Ruggero'.
