St John's Co-Cathedral, Valletta, from Zachary Street
This simple-looking façade hides a priceless jewel UNIQUE IN THE WORLD of Baroque art. It is not the seat of Malta’s Archbishopric which remains in the old Cathedral of St Paul at Mdina.
St John’s was built as the conventual church of the Knights of St John in their new city of Valletta. It was completed in 1578 but the Knights continued to ornate it with the best artistic works up to their departure in 1798. St John’s is government property but run by the Catholic Church. Up to 2004 restoration work on this gem was piecemeal and subject to crisis management. In 2004 agreement was reached between the two parties to create a Foundation to care for this church. Immediately a strategic plan for the full restoration of St John’s was put in place and since then most of the co-cathedral has been transformed to its original glory – although much painful restoration work will still go on for years. To date millions of Euros have been spent on the project and sight-seers are now required to make a small contribution for its upkeep.
Photography inside St John’s is not permitted but I sincerely invite my friends and followers on this project as well as those interested to visit the following site http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCMzfpLl_GE for a brief tour of the co-Cathedral. Although the video goes back to 2009 and a lot of work has been completed since then, I think it gives a good insight of this great heritage site. For further information on restoration works one could also visit the Foundation’s site at www.stjohnscocathedral
Nice perspective on a lovely building - they we supposed to get rid of the cables a few years ago but they never managed to do so. Makes the place look poor even after the country is spending millions to improve the city gate! You achieve quality through the detail and unfortunately we are still far from that milestone : (
