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| Interior St John The Baptist Cathedral |
Well, we were supposed to skip over to Gozo this morning, just an hour cruise away from Valletta. However, rough seas would have made tendering ashore impossible, hence another lovely day in Paradise, or better - lovely Valletta.
I headed for Vallettas major piece of art, the Co-Cathedral of St John the Baptist. To do the magnificent building and the rare and inspiring artworks within the time it deserves, one should enter early and not plan on leaving soon.
In 1565 Malta was besieged by the Ottoman Turks under the Command of Dragut, who was killed in battle at Fort St. Elmo at the tip of Valletta. At that time the Grand Master off the Order, Jean de Valette, started to build impressive fortifications that befitted a military Order. Shortly after Gerolamo Cassar designed St. John's Co-Cathedral.
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| St. Lawrence again, still being roasted alive... |
The financial and artistic support for constructing the cathedral were the combined efforts of the Knights of St. John, and their many revered and fabulously rich Grand Masters. As they had chosen St. John as their Patron Saint, supported by the relic of the hand of John the Baptist (apparently he was multidexterous, as many or these hands have found their way into reliquaries). The church was dedicated in 1577, Grand Masters and Knights had donated gifts of high artistic value and made enormous contributions to enrich it with only the best works of art by leading artists available to them. The result: a glorious and magnificent artistic expression of High Baroque.
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| Interior of St. John the Baptist Cathedral |
The interior consists of a wide nave with a barrel vault, and two aisles divided into side chapels...all originally very stark and simple. Mattia Preti, the most outstanding artist of the seicento converted the interior walls and ceilings into a celebration of Baroque art, depicting episodes from the life of St. John.
Based on Preti's design, the plain walls of the naves and chapels were carved with elaborate motifs, and transforming them into a riot of gilded foliage, flowers and angels.
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| Detail of a sculpture of a slave in a side chapel |
The number eight, based on the eight 'langues' of the Order (Germany, Anglo/Bavaria, Italy, France, Provence, Auvergne, Aragon and Castille/Leon/Portugal), plays an important role. There are eight side chapels, each designated to a specific 'langue' and gloriously decorated. The eight-pointed symbol of the Maltese Cross appears in carvings and paintings and inlaid marble mosaics.
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| Detail of a tomb stone of a knight |
The entire marble floor of the Cathedral is made up of hundreds of inlaid tombstones, all showing heraldry, life stories, religious and chivalrous feats of the important knights buried beneath them.
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| This tomb stone reminded me of people waiting for Internet connection on the Prinsendam, but it is a Knight's tomb stone - all inlaid marble. |
The Sanctuary, being the focal point of the cathedral, harbours a sculptural group, created by Guiseppe Mazzuoli, representing the Baptism of Christ.
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| Altar Piece of the Baptism of Christ |
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| Beautiful detail of one of the many Preti paintings |
The most moving and impressive work of art is hidden securely in the Oratory, once a place for private prayer, and now the main attraction. The altar piece, dating to 1607, which shows the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, is the largest painting to be created by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. It also is the only signed by him, fittingly 'in blood'. His signature is hidden in a pool of blood flowing from the severed neck of the slain Saint. Caravaggio used a technique called chiaroscuro, which uses dramatic highlights to give impact to his harsh realism.
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| Unfortunately not correctly aligned... The severed head of St. John the Baptist in Caravaggio's painting |
Now a bit of Saint John's story....
He was born around the same time as Jesus. His aged father Zachariah, a temple priest, was married to equally aged Elizabeth, a cousin of the Virgin Mary. Elizabeth was sterile, but Angel Gabriel announced to the couple that they would conceive a son, upon which Zaccaria was struck dumb. He only recovered his speech at the birth of his son, whom he called John following the orders of Gabriel.
When John was around 27 years old, he began preaching in the desert, asking sinners to be repent in preparation for the coming of the Messiah, and be baptized in 'the living waters'.
Even Christ came to be baptised, and John agreed - after an initial refusal - to baptise him as well.
We remember Herod, the Roman emperor in power at that time. He enjoyed listening to John's sermons, despite the latter's unpopularity amongst the aristocracy.
But John reprimanded the Emperor, because Herod - a married man - had fallen in love with his brother's wife Herodias, and wanted to wed her. According to John, that was a no-no, whilst Herod's brother was still alive.
Well, John apparently was guilty of the same pleasure, living with HIS brother's wife. Herod, confused and offended, in turn imprisoned John, and wanted to rid himself of him without angering John's followers.
He thought up a ruse...he invited the high society of Galilee to a banquet, where Salome the daughter of Herodias the disputed wife, was to dance. Herod would pretend to be so enchanted by the lovely Salome, that he would promise her anything she asked for. Salome was primed to answer that she desired John's head. And so she did...
Being a man to keep a promise, Herod immediately sent executioners to John's prison cell, and without the benefit of any trial or discussion, had John beheaded. The head was given to the girl child Salome (was she traumatized??) who in turn presented it to her mother Herodias on a large salver.
John was martyred circa 30 AD, victim of a love intrigue.
Caravaggio's painting shows a dark scene illuminated by dramatic lights, where executioner, prisoners, a gate keeper and Salome all observe indifferently the prone corpse of John, freshly beheaded, with a glistening flow of blood emerging from his severed neck. Only one person in the painting, an old woman, expresses shock at the ghoulish scene.
It is difficult to upstage the experience of visiting the Co Cathedral of St John the Baptist, and admire the treasures within.
The 50 rooms of the Palace, or at least the ones accessible to the public, are filled with eclectic collections of furniture, paintings of old masters, modernistic paintings and sculptures, silver, religious articles, books etc etc. A classic inner courtyard is filled with greenery, a fountain splashes gently in one corner, and Vulcan the turtle, and Kiku III the parrot make their home here.
The palace's sumptuously furnished summer dining room opens onto it, but it also gives access to a narrow dripping stone staircase leading 100 feet underground into several shelters of respectable proportions. These not only served the aristocrat's family as war time bomb shelter, but many citizens of Valletta found protection here.
For more discerning tourists, the Marquis' family offers a champagne reception once a week, on Friday evenings. For me, a few chunks of freshly baked Maltese bread with a side serving of olives and a locally made dip accompanied by a glass of local wine in one of the many pleasant sidewalk cafes was a more plebeyan pleasure, but a rather appropriate farewell to one of my favourite ports in the Mediterranean Sea.
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| Farewell to Malta... |
