We are on holiday in Malta this week for the first time. We are staying right on the edge of the capital, Valetta - and its an amazing place.
Yesterday we visited St John's Co-cathedral, in the centre of Valetta, which is listed as one of the main sites to see in Malta. It was built by the knights of St John (previously Knights Hospitalier) in the 1570s. Its pretty enough from the outside, although not remarkable - however the inside is an entirely different story.
Every inch of the inside is exquisitely decorated. The audio tour guide described the cathedral as the 'main temple of the Knights of St John', who governed Malta for close to 300 years.
One of the most striking features for me was the floor. Every part of the floor was covered in these amazing decorative marble slabs. I've never seen as many as this before, nor as highly decorated.
These slabs were really intricate and colourful. And having now visited a few other cathedrals in Malta today, its clear to see that its a Maltese thing, because you can see similar slabs in the other cathedrals.
There was also some impressive art works throughout.
Its known for having a number of Caravaggio's - the one above is Saint Jerome Writing painted in the early 17th century. Such a lovely painting.
The entrance price was steep-ish at round 15 euros each, but I guess the upkeep of the place is considerable, so if its supporting that, then I have no issue with it - plus it was truly stunning to see.
There is gold leaf and marble everywhere you look - with a lot of history presented, particularly for the Knights of St John.
I loved the curly columns in the pic above (sorry - I never quite caught the picture properly). I've not seen columns like that before - and the painting there of the arch-angel Gabriel (I think from memory) is quite impressive too.
The pic above shows the oratory with another Caravaggio at the end - the beheading of Saint John the Baptist, which is considered to be another of his masterpieces.
Again it was the floor that I kept being drawn to - especially the slabs with skeletons (of which there were quite a few) - it must have taken a huge amount of work to cut all the individual coloured marble pieces needed to make one of these. I loved seeing them.
The main alter was as impressive as you would think (above). It really rivals anything else I've ever seen, including those I've seen in places like Rome and Florence.
I had never heard the term 'co-cathedral' before so I had to look it up. Wikipedia describes it as:
A co-cathedral is a cathedral church which shares the function of being a bishop's seat, or cathedra, with another cathedral, often in another city
[ Source: wikipedia ]
The workmanship throughout is quite amazing. It does seem over-the-top-lavish and I do find it questionable at times (ie, where did the money come from and could it have been put to better use when in those times the majority of people had next to nothing). However, from a historic perspective, its great to still have it around and protected, and will hopefully be around for a long time for future generations.
It truly was quite an amazing place to see. I'm glad we visited, and I would recommend it to anyone else visiting Valetta/Malta. Quite incredible really !
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