02/12/2025
Cathedral of Saint Olive of Palermo:
What’s really interesting is that a cathedral dedicated to Saint Olive still stands on the same site as the mosque, and both carry her name...
According to a legend, the site of the zitouna mosque was once an ancient place of prayer near an olive tree (zitouna) in Tunisian Arabic. The most widely accepted explanation was transmitted by the Tunisian historian Ibn Abi Dinar, who described the presence of the tomb of Saint Olive at that location.
Modern research has shown that the mosque was indeed built over a Christian basilica.
With the advent of Islam, the basilica was converted into a mosque, keeping its dedication, translated into Arabic.
