The long history of the Cathedral of Syracuse

In the fifth century B.C. the tyrant of Syracuse Gelo ordered the construction of a building in order to have great reputation and a long life: the Doric temple of the Athenaion. Praised by Cicero in his Against Verres, the temple dedicated to the goddess Athena shared the fortunes of the city of Syracuse, soon falling into decay after the Roman conquest in the third century B.C. Like all places of pagan ritual, it ceased to be used for worship in 394 A.D, only to be transformed into a Christian church by the Bishop Zosimus, during the Byzantine era. It became a Cathedral at the behest of the bishop and the church was enriched with a new façade in Norman times, and then restored or repaired several times until the arrival of the Spaniards. In the fifteenth century the polychrome floor was built, while the wooden ceiling that covers the nave and the bell tower date back to the sixteenth century.