Messina - Sacrario di Cristo Re

Messina, located at the southern entrance of the Strait of Messina, was in the 8th century B.C. founded by Greek colonists. After the First Punic War, it became Roman and after the fall of the Roman Empire, the city was successively ruled by the Goths from 476, then by the Byzantine Empire in 535, by the Arabs in 842, and in 1061 by the Norman brothers Robert Guiscard and Roger Guiscard, later known as Roger I of Sicily. In 1189 Richard I ("The Lionheart") stopped in Messina on his way to the Holy Land and briefly occupied the city after a dispute over the dowry of his sister, who was married to King William II of Sicily (= William the Good). . . Because a tectonic fault zone, the Messina Fault, runs through the Strait of Messina, earthquakes are common here. The city had to be rebuilt again and again. The Second World War brought further destruction to Messina.
A fort is known where the Sacrario di Cristo Re is now since the times of Roger I. This fort, named Matagrifone, was where Richard Lionheart stayed, waiting got transport to the Holy Land, and occupied the city.

The sanctuary of today was built on the remains of the castle, It was designed in 1937 by Giovanni Battista Milani and built in the Baroque style. It guards the remains of numerous fallen soldiers and civilians of the First World War. To commemorate them, the gong chimes from Sacrario's bell tower every time the sun goes down.



I have already uploaded a lot of photos previously taken in Sicily. Now I will add only a few. If you want to see more, follow this link:Some buildings were erected in the Art Nouveau style after the 1908 earthquake.

www.ipernity.com/doc/323415/album/1238300