Dueling Churches

Friday, March 9, 2018  

St. John or St. Paul.  Their churches in Valletta battled for pre-eminence, and St. John’s won.  But St. Paul gave a good fight.

After the successful defense of the Great Siege of Malta by the Ottomans in 1565, the city of Valletta was planned and built; the first completely planned city in Europe, and it’s on a grid.  In a city 900 by 630 meters there are 25 churches!  Two major churches were built, that of St. Paul starting in 1570, and that of St. John starting in 1574.  We spent considerable time in the St. John church today.  Called a co-cathedral (the actual Maltese cathedral is in the city of Mdina), it was originally very plain.  It was constructed with no bell tower, spires or domes to keep it hidden from potential sea-based bombardment.  When the knights had sufficient funds, it was decorated by an Italian, Mattia Preti, who became a member of the Order of St. John.  He painted for five years, and designed and ordered the Florentine carvings, all covered with 22 K. gold.  It is astonishing.  Here’s a view from the middle of the main sanctuary; note the chapels along the sides and the intricate floor:

Here’s the altar with an enormous sculpture of St. John the Baptist baptizing Christ.  Note the paired organs on each side of the altar:

On the right side of the altar is a gilded statue of Moses holding the ten commandments.  Note the horns, clearly copying the Michelangelo depiction of horns based on a mistranslation of the Hebrew bible into the Latin vulgate:

Here’s a close-up of one of the two organs, built in Venice in the 1600s:

Here are parts of two panels from the intricate inlaid floor:

I need to translate that Latin and try to make sense of this.

There is a large side chapel in which the church’s two Caravaggio’s are displayed.  The enormous Beheading of St. John the Baptist is above an altar:

The painting of St. Jerome Writing is more accessible.  This is the painting which was stolen when it hung in another place in the church (which is left blank to this day).  Our speaker on Wednesday, Rev. Fr. Marius Zerafa, was personally responsible for the negotiation which led to the recovery and re-hanging in its new location:

Here is a close-up of St. Jerome’s face:

We visited the Church of St Paul's Shipwreck, the competitor in grandeur to the St. John church.  It too is stunning, but…  There were many scaffolds in it as it is undergoing restoration.  Here’s an unobstructed view of the organ in the rear of the church—imagine, this is the also-ran:

So the winner, the St. John church, was made a co-cathedral in the mid-19^th c.  We wandered the lovely bustling city, had lunch, and visited the Casa Rocca Piccola, a 16^th c. house built for the Knights of Italy, and purchased by a noble family in the 18^th c.  It is still owned by the same family, and we bumped into the Marquis who is the current owner.  For whatever reason, he sells visits to the house for 9 euros, and we took the tour.  It contains an eclectic collection of furniture, paintings, rugs, and stuff.  It’s a great honor to be given a slipper by the Pope, and over the years the family had been given slippers by three popes.  They’re in a display case:

We returned to our hotel and had a lecture on the natural history of the Maltese islands, covering the geology, ecology, flora and fauna.  While full of facts, it was not up to the outstanding quality of prior lecturers.  Tomorrow, the Maritime Museum and boating in the harbor.