St John's Co-Cathedral

When the Order of St John took possession of the Maltese Islands in October 1530, the Grand Master and his Order established their headquarters across the Grand Harbor at Fort St Angelo. The knights themselves settled in the Borgo (today's Cospicua), a small conurbation to the east of the fort.

After the Great Siege, the Order established Valletta, creating a new and fortified city on the highest ground that overlooked the Grand Harbor. In November 1573 work began on the Conventual Church dedicated to St John the Baptist, the patron saint of the Order. Its design was entrusted to the Order's architect, Gerolamo Cassar.

Cassar's basic training was in military architecture which explains the austere fines of the facade sometimes accurately described as that of a fortress-church and a continuation of Valletta's fortified design.

Despite its exterior severity, the interior is restful and its proportions in perfect harmony as a whole. If the facade of Stjohn's is bleak, the interior is an unqualified truimph. It is the fist complete example of High Baroque anywhere.

Entering the main door into the semi-darkness of the Cathedral, the sense of contrast is overwhelming. In 1831 Sir Waiter Scott exclaimed: 'This is the most magnificent place I saw in my life.'

First impressions take in the richly painted vault, the arabesque carvings which cover every inch of the walls, and the multi-coloured marble slabs which cover the floor. There is an overwhelming sense of harmony and ornament.

The building was completed in 1577 at the expense of Grand Master La Cassiere (1572-81) but important additions were made in the 18th century.

The plan of the church is rectangular with an apse at its eastern end, a pointed barrel vault, and chapels at the sides behind high arches. The architect used extra thick walls between the side chapels as supports for the heavy buttresses above, in order to counteract the enormous lateral thrust of the vault.

It was in 1661 that Grand Master Rafael Cotoner (1660-63) commissioned Mattia Preti to decorate the ceiling. Known as II Cavalier Calabrese, Preti was one of the most outstanding artists of the Italian Seicento.

Preti used oils on stone on which there was a light primer, a technique which has created problems over the years because of the porous nature of the soft limestone and its easy absorption of moisture.

In the vivid vault are the entire biblical narratives of the life of John the Baptist, from Zachary in the Temple to John's birth, his encounter with Christ in the desert, Christ's baptism. John's preachings in the wilderness, the dance of Salome and the final episode of the Beheading. The figures of saints and heroes illuminating each oval window are among the best in Preti's baroque decorative art.

Each of the eight Langues (the national sections of the Order) had its own chapel. The chapel nearest the entrance on the right, is that of Castile, Leon and Portugal, dedicated to St James.

The next chapel, dedicated to St George, is that of the Langue of Aragon, Catalunya and Navarre, whose altarpiece and all other paintings are by Preti too. The chapel contains two of the most beautiful Grand Masters' mausoleums in St John's, both exquisite examples of Italian baroque sculpture, that of Nicolas Cotoner (1663-80) and of Ramon Perellos (1697-1720).

St John's is dominated by a magnificent marble group represendng the Baptism of Christ by Guiseppe Mazzuoh (1644-1725). A gilt bronze gloria as its background is the work of Giovanni Giardini (1646-1721), an Italian sculptor and silversmith. The high altar, certainly the richest in Malta, is made of lapis lazuh and other precious marbles, and is enriched by a relief of the Last Supper, also in gilt bronze, in its centre.

On certain days of the religious calendar, a magnificent set of 14 tapestries is hung in the nave of the church. They were executed by the famous Flemish tapissier, de Vos, after cartoons by Rubens and Poussin, and portray scenes from the life of Christ and religious allegories.

The Beheading of Stjohn by Caravaggio (1573-1610) in the Cathderal's oratory is probably the most famous painting in Malta. It was one of Caravaggio's last works and certainly considered his best.

The history of the Order, its warriors and heroes, their deeds and achievements, is emblazoned on marble tombstones which cover the floor of the nave, aisles and oratory. Latin inscriptions set into the marble under heraldic record names of most of the aristocratic European families of the time. The floor of St john's is a history in marble of one of the most famous chivalric Orders.