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| St John's Co-Cathedral | |
|---|---|
Kon-Katidral ta' San Ġwann | |
 Façade of St John's Co-Cathedral in 2020 | |
 St John's Co-Cathedral | |
| 35°53′52″N14°30′46″E / 35.89778°N 14.51278°E /35.89778; 14.51278 | |
| Location | Valletta |
| Country | Malta |
| Denomination | Catholic Church |
| Sui iuris church | Latin Church |
| Website | www.stjohnscocathedral.com |
| History | |
| Former name(s) | Conventual Church of St. John The Major Conventual and Parochial Church of the Jerosolymitan Order dedicated to St John the Baptist[1] |
| Status | Co-cathedral |
| Founder | Jean de la Cassière |
| Dedication | John the Baptist |
| Consecrated | 20 February 1578 |
| Architecture | |
| Heritage designation | Grade 1 |
| Designated | 2008 |
| Architect | Girolamo Cassar |
| Architectural type | Church |
| Style | Mannerist (exterior) Baroque (interior) |
| Groundbreaking | 1572 |
| Completed | 1577 |
| Specifications | |
| Length | 65 metres (213 ft) |
| Width | 40 metres (130 ft) |
| Nave width | 20 metres (66 ft) |
| Materials | Limestone |
| Administration | |
| Archdiocese | Archdiocese of Malta |
| Clergy | |
| Archbishop | Charles Scicluna |
| Rector | Paul Carmel Vella |
 | |
St John's Co-Cathedral (Maltese:Kon-Katidral ta' San Ġwann) is aCatholicco-cathedral inValletta,Malta, dedicated to SaintJohn the Baptist. It was built by theOrder of St. John between 1573 and 1578,[2] having been commissioned by Grand MasterJean de la Cassière as theConventual Church of Saint John (Maltese:Knisja Konventwali ta' San Ġwann).[3]
The church was designed by theMaltese architectGirolamo Cassar,[4] who designed several of the more prominent buildings in Valletta. In the 17th century, its interior was redecorated in theBaroque style byMattia Preti and other artists. The interior of the church is considered to be one of the finest examples of high Baroque architecture in Europe.[5]
Following theGreat Siege of 1565, St. John's Co-Cathedral was commissioned in 1572 byJean de la Cassière,Grand Master of theOrder of St. John.[6][7][8] It was initially named, in the Italian common language of the time, asChiesa Conventuale di San Giovanni Battista.[9] The church was designed by the Maltese architectGirolamo Cassar, who also designed and oversaw the construction of many important buildings in Valletta.[6][7] It is held that Cassar went toRhodes to bring a plan of an already existing church that was by then converted to a mosque, to use it as a model for the present co-cathedral. However, Cassar still took decisions over the final design and made modifications, and thus became the sole architect of the co-cathedral.[10] Once St. John's was completed in 1577, it became the newconventual church of the Order instead ofSt. Lawrence's Church in the Order's former headquartersBirgu.[7] Construction of the oratory and sacristy began in 1598, during the magistracy ofMartin Garzez, and they were completed by Grand MasterAlof de Wignacourt in 1604.[11]
For the first century of its existence, the church's interior was modestly decorated. However, in the 1660s, Grand MasterRaphael Cotoner ordered the redecoration of the interior so as to rival the churches ofRome. Calabrian artistMattia Preti was in charge of the embellishment, and effectively completely transformed the interior in theBaroque style.[12] The annexes on the side of the cathedral were added later and feature the coat of arms of Grand MasterAntónio Manoel de Vilhena who reigned from 1722 to 1736.[11]
St. John's remained the conventual church of the Order until the latter was expelled from Malta with theFrench occupation in 1798.[12] Over time, the church grew to equal prominence with the archbishop'scathedral atMdina. In the 1820s, the Bishop of Malta was allowed to use St John's as an alternative see and it thus formally became aco-cathedral.[13]
In 1831, SirWalter Scott called the cathedral a "magnificent church, the most striking interior [he had] ever seen."[13] In the mid-19th century,Giuseppe Hyzler, a leader of theNazarene movement, removed some of the Baroque art of the cathedral, including the ornate altar in the Chapel of the Langue of France.[14]
The cathedral's exterior was slightly damaged by aerial bombardment in 1941, duringWorld War II, barely escaping total destruction. The contents of the cathedral had been transferred elsewhere before the bombardment, so no works of art were lost.[6][12]
The cathedral was restored between the late 1980s and the early 1990s. In 2001, the St. John's Co-Cathedral Foundation was set up to administer and conserve the cathedral and its museum. The sides of the cathedral were restored between 2008 and 2010, and a complete restoration of the exterior began in July 2014 directed by architect Jean Frendo and eight restorers. Restoration of the central part of the façade was completed in September 2015[15] and project completion was expected in 2017.[16]
Today, the cathedral is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Malta,[12] and is listed on theNational Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands.[14]
The cathedral's exterior is built in theMannerist style typical of its architectGirolamo Cassar. Its façade is rather plain but well-proportioned, being bounded by two largebell towers.[5] The doorway is flanked byDoric columns supporting an open balcony from which the Grand Master used to address the people on important occasions.[11] On the side are also two empty niches.[17][18] The niches and the columns are a break with the rest of exterior Mannerist architecture.[19][18]
Overall, the exterior is rather austere and reminiscent of a fortress,[20] reflecting both Cassar's style as a military engineer as well as the Order's mood in the years following theGreat Siege of Malta in 1565.[12][6]
The cathedral's interior is extremely ornate, standing in sharp contrast with the façade. The interior was largely decorated byMattia Preti, the Calabrian artist and knight, at the height of theBaroque period. Preti designed the intricate carved stone walls and painted the vaulted ceiling and side altars with scenes from the life ofJohn the Baptist. The figures painted into the ceiling next to each column initially appear to the viewer as three-dimensional statues, but on closer inspection we see that the artist cleverly created an illusion of three-dimensionality by his use of shadows and placement. Also noteworthy is the fact that the carving was all undertaken in-place (in-situ) rather than being carved independently and then attached to the walls (stucco). The Maltese limestone from which the cathedral is built lends itself particularly well to such intricate carving. The whole marble floor is an entire series of tombs, housing about 400 Knights and officers of the Order.[21] There is also acrypt containing the tombs ofGrand Masters likePhilippe Villiers de L'Isle-Adam,Claude de la Sengle,Jean Parisot de Valette, andAlof de Wignacourt.
In 1666, a project for the main altar by Malta's greatest sculptor,Melchiorre Cafà, was approved and begun. Cafà intended a large sculpture group inbronze depicting theBaptism of Christ. Following Cafà's tragic death in 1667 in a foundry accident while tending to this work in Rome, the plans were abandoned. Only in 1703,Giuseppe Mazzuoli, Cafà's only pupil, finished a marble group of theBaptism of Christ which might have been influenced by his master's undocumented designs but certainly is strongly dependent on a small baptism group byAlessandro Algardi.[22]
The funerary monument of Grand MasterMarc'Antonio Zondadari (died 1722), nephew ofPope Alexander VII, is located close to the main entrance. It was originally meant to be installed in the Chapel of the Langue of Italy, but it was too large so it was placed in the nave.[23]
The cathedral contains nine chapels, one dedicated to Our Lady of Philermos and the rest dedicated to the patron saints of each of the Order's eightlangues (or divisions). The following chapels are located on the south side of the church:[24]
On the north side of the church, one finds the following chapels:
The painting depictingThe Beheading of Saint John the Baptist (1608) byCaravaggio (1571–1610) is the most famous work in the church. Considered one of Caravaggio's masterpieces, the largest canvas he painted and the only painting signed by the painter, the canvas is displayed in the Oratory for which it was painted. Restored in the late 1990s in Florence, this painting is one of Caravaggio's most impressive uses of thechiaroscuro style for which he is most famous with a circle of light illuminating the scene of St John's beheading at the request of Salome. The oratory also houses Caravaggio'sSaint Jerome Writing (1607–1608).
Another impressive feature of the church is the collection of marbletombstones in the nave in which were buried important knights. The more important knights were placed closer to the front of the church. These tomb
stones, richly decorated with in-laid marble and with the coats of arms of the knight buried below as well as images relevant to that knight, often telling a story of triumph in battle, form a rich visual display in the church.
Adjoining to the church is the St John's Co-Cathedral Museum containing art objects. Among the contents of the museum there are the Flemish Tapestries designed byPeter Paul Rubens, which were donated by Grand MasterRamon Perellos y Roccaful,[38][39] paintings of Grand MastersJean de la Cassière,Nicolas Cotoner andManuel Pinto da Fonseca, and paintings which were formerly in the side chapels such asSt. George killing the Dragon byFrancesco Potenzano.
St. John's Co-Cathedral is located in the centre of Valletta, and it is a short walk away from the bus terminus nearCity Gate. The main entrance of the cathedral is inSt John's Square, but the visitors' entrance is from Great Siege Square in Republic Street, facing theLaw Courts.[40]
Fees are charged for visitors, but those visiting the cathedral for Mass only do not have to pay the entrance fee.[41]
![Statue of the Virgin Mary, one of three statues in the "Crucifixion Group," believed to be sculpted by Alessandro Algardi[42]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aStatue_of_the_Virgin_Mary%2c_Golgotha_Crucifixion_Group%2c_St._John%2527s_Co-Cathedral%2c_Malta.jpg)
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The bells of St. John's Co Cathedral at Valletta:
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