Evening star., 1943-11-07

cathedral. Actually Father Francis Con-
nors of Fitchburg, Mass, one OF the
division chaplains, had 1t under his spe-
clal protection. There was considerable.
fighting in front Of Cefalu, but the town
Itself was not shelled, and not stone
OF the structure has been disturbed.
More remarkable is the condition of
the Norman churches in Palermo itself.
where there was repeated and intense
bombing. The best known of these are
San Cataldo, San Giovanni degn Ere
miu and the Capella Palatina, which
forms part of the royal palace None OF
these was hit, although some OF tbs
walls may have been shaken by shock
waves and will need bolsterng.
Long before the start of intensive
bombing Of Sicily, the surveyors have
found the custodians removed and
placed In safekeeping practically all tho
pictures of any value.
In some cases they hid them 80 we'll
that it is proving difficult to locate them,
especially since some of the custodians
were Fascist officials who fed to the
continent with their records.
With the baroque churches the story
Is sadly different, although the damage
at first sight seems much greater than
1t turns out to be when assessed BY ex-
perts. This baroque period. they ex-
plain, Is difficult to date 1t extended
roughly from the end OF the Renais.
sance well into the 18th century. Its
QTCh1tpHtJlro
the medieval, characterized by the first
conscious utilization Of space itself as
part OF architectural design and by the
lavish use OF ornamentation and statues.
Some of the best Of these churches
are f1attened. Others are badly Quilted.
So far as can be found, no painting or
statue OF outstanding value suffered.
These all had been removed to places
Of safekeeping before the bombing
started. The damage to the buildings
themselves, while a serious loss to the
art world, Is not one OF the first mag
nitude.
1t was impossible to remove the
frescoes and some of these are a COM
plete loss. The most celebrated of the
fresco artists was the Spaniard, Borre-
names, who started work in Palermo
about 1720, and whose work was con-
tinued by his son and by school Of
disciples who grew up around him. They
literally covered acres with their frescoes
and relatively few were obliterated. Per-
haps the most famous of the baroous
churches which suffered irreparabls
damage was the church of St. Francis
Of Assist in Palermo, rich in frescoes
and in inland colored marble.
Preserving What Is Left.
The AMGOT officers are seeing to IL
that everything which can be done to
once and are bearing the expense, even
when the damage was obviously the work
of the Axis. The preservation work con-
sists largely in seeing that roofs are
built to protect the interiors from ths
weather, that shock weakened walls are
shored up, and that interiors are cleared
OF rubble. In many cases the Fascist
government had undertaken extensive
restoration work before the war. They
do not consider 1t their duty to finance
the completion Of this work, although 1t
is somewhat difficult TO draw . line
where what they consider their respon.
sibility ends.
This Is the true story Of the American
and British footing" OF Sicily, Of which
the German radio makes 50 much. If
any considerable treasure Is missing the
place to look for 1t will be Berlin, not
London or Washington. Because Of
missing records 1t is impossible at pres
ent to state positively that nothing has
been carried away.
The AMGOT officers, In fact, are locat.
Ing Sicilian antiquities which even the
Sicilians themselves did not know ex.
listed and are taking steps for their
preservation
Sicilian hilltops are peppered with
ruins of Norman castles. On the face
none Of them were Of any military i'm
portance and were not touched by either
side. 1t was found later, however, that
Germans had used some Of them as dis
guises for pillboxes, They offer no
preservation problem.