CY NTHIA DE GIORGIO
THE GREAT TEMPLE T H E C O N V E N T UA L C H U R C H O F T H E K N I G H T S O F M A LTA
Cynthia de Giorgio is an art historian. She is a graduate of the University of Malta and holds an Honours Bachelor of Art degree in history of art. She has spent a number of years teaching art and art history. More recently she specialised in the art and architecture of the baroque period and acquired a Masters degree in Baroque Studies from the International Institute for Baroque Studies. She has served as secretary to the ‘Friends of the Mdina Cathedral Museum’ and sat on the board of directors of Heritage Malta and was also an executive council member at Din L-Art Helwa. She is an occasional lecturer at the Institute for Baroque Studies at the University of Malta. She has written several articles in art journals and newspapers and is the author of ‘The Image of Triumph and the Knights of Malta’. She has organised a number of exhibitions and also co-edited the publication of ‘Caravaggio and painting of Realism in Malta’. Presently she is the curator of St John’s Co-Cathedral and Museum. ENRICO FORMICA Enrico Formica has worked in the artistic field for many years, as hyper-realistic artist, promotional illustrator and graphic designer, though photography has prevailed over these roles. He produces works on commission (landscape photographs, lifestyle and still-life) while giving much time and space to research and to experimentation, producing compositions to themes that are unconstrained by objectives, and that touch on various areas. His photographs are mainly in medium to large format, and in recent years he has developed a special technique of shooting spherical pictures using equipment which he has designed and which can reproduce the surrounding space in 360° in a single photograph, without any subsequent alteration to the image. He sees to the creation of the image from start to finish, producing detailed scenographic sketches on request and, where appropriate and/or necessary, follows the process through to editorial post-production stage. Since 1976 he has worked with promotion firms and studios, companies, agencies and publishers both nationally and internationally. A citizen of the Italian Alps, and born in Valperga, Torino, on 22nd September 1955, he lives in Saint-Vincent, in Valle d’Aosta, where he pursues the creative work which is his first interest.
THE GRE AT TEMPLE
Text CYNTHIA DE G IORG IO
Photography ENRICO FORMI CA
CONTENTS
The Conventual Church of the Knights of Malta
6 The Cathedral, the Nave and the Vault
26 The Chapels
42 The Sacristy
78 The Oratory
88 Monuments and tombstones
110 The Museum
122 the hidden treasures
143
The Conventual Church of the Knights of Malta Cynthia De Giorgio
6
St John’s
The church of St John the Baptist is a unique architectural, historical, artistic and religious monument of great national and international importance and it is acclaimed as one of the most magnificent sites on the Maltese Islands. The Order of the Knights of St John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta, who came to Malta in 1530, built this magnificent temple in the new city Valletta soon after the Great Siege of 1565 and dedicated it to their patron saint John the Baptist. The sober and robust exterior holds within a unique and intriguing expression of Baroque art. St John’s, today known as the Co-Cathedral, owes its rich and colourful history together with its artistic heritage to the fact that for several years it served as the conventual church of the Order of the Knights of St John on the island that they occupied and held as their ‘convento’. The Order was arranged into eight ‘langues’ which represented the different regions of Europe the members of the Order came from. The langues represented are those of Provence, of France, of Auvergne, of Aragon, of Catalonia and Navarre, of Castile, Leon and Portugal, of Italy, of Germany, and of the Anglo Bavarian langue. Hence the co-cathedral has an unequalled European dimension. The history of the church is directly tied to the history of the Order in Malta. It was the place where religious fervour, chivalry, nobility, military valour and the heroic image the knights projected of themselves was made manifest through triumphant representations signifying their political and religious achievements. The Order, established late in the 11th century as Hospitaller for pilgrims in Jerusalem, emerged as a result of the Crusades and gradually took on a more military role as ‘the shield of Europe’ against the Muslim ‘infidels’ as they often referred to themselves. St John’s was to serve as the knights’ conventual church until the Order was expelled from Malta by Napoleon’s troops in 1798. Unfortunately that year also saw the despoiling of the church’s silver by the French. A full list of the silver items removed exists in the archives of the Order. This episode proved to be an important landmark in the church’s history. In the absences of the Grand Prior as spiritual leader the Bishop of Malta
The Great Temple
Mgr Vincenzo Labini set his claim on the church. After placing a formal request Napoleon Bonaparte decreed that the church was to serve as the co-cathedral and thus the conventual church of the Knights was handed over to the Bishop of Malta who assumed spiritual responsibilities over St John’s church. St John’s Co-Cathedral is itself an outstanding treasure house holding within its collection the most famous painting of the Beheading of St John the Baptist by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. Over the years, the Grand Masters and knights donated gifts of high artistic value and made enormous contributions to enrich it with only the best works of art by the leading artists available to them. It was the knights themselves who referred to the church as ‘la nostra chiesa maggiore della Sacra Religione Gerosolimitana’. The supreme authority of the Order was the Grand Master whilst the ecclesiastical sector was governed by the Grand Prior and was considered a prestigious post, and he was allowed to wear a bishop’s mitre and carry the crozier. In dignity, the prior ranked third after the Grand Master and the Bishop of Malta. The administration of the church was carried out by a chapter of ‘cappellani maggiori’ who were ordained members of the Order and headed by a prior. The upkeep of St John’s was given such importance that it occupied the topmost position in the annual budget of the Order, thus maintaining it in continual splendour. For several years St John’s served as the resting place of the Grand Masters, heroic commanders and knights of the Order who were all commemorated with monuments of high artistic value and a unique display of inlaid marble tombstones. It enjoyed notorious prestige throughout the Order’s rule and housed several of the Order’s most precious relics, including the hand of John the Baptist. The knights intended their conventual church of St John’s to be the largest and most outstanding church in Malta as it was to represent every facet of the Order’s character. The absolute head of the Order was the Grand Master who was elected for life. He was Master of the Order and bore the titles of ‘Serene Highness’ and ‘Eminence’. On his election, he was obliged to
7
15
St John’s
The Great Temple
22
Above: View of the Sanctuary Overleaf: The Great Inlaid Marble Floor
23
The Cathedr al The Nave and The Vault The Nave
26
The Grand Masters all took great pride in their conventual church and wanted it to be decorated according to the new artistic baroque style. During the 1650s and throughout the 1660s a vast programme of decoration was set into motion. Significant works of art were commissioned for which no expense was spared. Several coats-of-arms belonging to the aristocratic members of the Order of St John can be seen indicating their contributions. After the vault decoration the most significant change that transformed the church into a symphony of Baroque splendour was the carving into the soft Maltese stone of the interior walls. On designs some of which were prepared by Preti the plain walls of the nave and chapels were decorated with elaborate motifs characteristic of baroque ornamentation, transforming the walls into a riot of richly gilded foliage, flowers, angels and triumphal symbols of all kinds. The pilasters supporting the central nave where clad with the finest green marble at the top of which are displayed the coat-of-arms of Grand Master Nicholas Cotoner.
Right: The Baptism of Christ
St John’s
The Great Temple
27
St John’s
40
The Great Temple
St John’s
The Great Temple
41
The Vault Paintings
65
CY NTHIA DE GIORGIO
THE GREAT TEMPLE T H E C O N V E N T UA L C H U R C H O F T H E K N I G H T S O F M A LTA
Cynthia de Giorgio is an art historian. She is a graduate of the University of Malta and holds an Honours Bachelor of Art degree in history of art. She has spent a number of years teaching art and art history. More recently she specialised in the art and architecture of the baroque period and acquired a Masters degree in Baroque Studies from the International Institute for Baroque Studies. She has served as secretary to the ‘Friends of the Mdina Cathedral Museum’ and sat on the board of directors of Heritage Malta and was also an executive council member at Din L-Art Helwa. She is an occasional lecturer at the Institute for Baroque Studies at the University of Malta. She has written several articles in art journals and newspapers and is the author of ‘The Image of Triumph and the Knights of Malta’. She has organised a number of exhibitions and also co-edited the publication of ‘Caravaggio and painting of Realism in Malta’. Presently she is the curator of St John’s Co-Cathedral and Museum. ENRICO FORMICA Enrico Formica has worked in the artistic field for many years, as hyper-realistic artist, promotional illustrator and graphic designer, though photography has prevailed over these roles. He produces works on commission (landscape photographs, lifestyle and still-life) while giving much time and space to research and to experimentation, producing compositions to themes that are unconstrained by objectives, and that touch on various areas. His photographs are mainly in medium to large format, and in recent years he has developed a special technique of shooting spherical pictures using equipment which he has designed and which can reproduce the surrounding space in 360° in a single photograph, without any subsequent alteration to the image. He sees to the creation of the image from start to finish, producing detailed scenographic sketches on request and, where appropriate and/or necessary, follows the process through to editorial post-production stage. Since 1976 he has worked with promotion firms and studios, companies, agencies and publishers both nationally and internationally. A citizen of the Italian Alps, and born in Valperga, Torino, on 22nd September 1955, he lives in Saint-Vincent, in Valle d’Aosta, where he pursues the creative work which is his first interest.