♡ Please subscribe @: https://www.youtube.com/c/worldbytoma...

#stjohnscocathedral #stjohnscathedral #malta

Follow worldbytomas on Instagram

  / worldbytomas  

Follow worldbytomas on Twitter

  / worldbytomas  

Like worldbytomas on Facebook

  / worldbytomas  

St John's CoCathedral (Maltese: KonKatidral ta' San Ġwann) is a Catholic cocathedral in Valletta, Malta, dedicated to Saint John the Baptist. It was built by the Order of St. John between 1573 and 1578, having been commissioned by Grand Master Jean de la Cassière as the Conventual Church of Saint John (Maltese: Knisja Konventwali ta' San Ġwann).

The church was designed by the Maltese architect Girolamo Cassar, who designed several of the more prominent buildings in Valletta. In the 17th century, its interior was redecorated in the Baroque style by Mattia Preti and other artists. The interior of the church is considered to be one of the finest examples of high Baroque architecture in Europe.

The cathedral's interior is extremely ornate, standing in sharp contrast with the façade. The interior was largely decorated by Mattia Preti, the Calabrian artist and knight, at the height of the Baroque period. Preti designed the intricate carved stone walls and painted the vaulted ceiling and side altars with scenes from the life of John the Baptist. The figures painted into the ceiling next to each column initially appear to the viewer as threedimensional statues, but on closer inspection we see that the artist cleverly created an illusion of threedimensionality by his use of shadows and placement. Also noteworthy is the fact that the carving was all undertaken inplace (insitu) 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. There is also a crypt containing the tombs of Grand Masters like Philippe Villiers de L'IsleAdam, Claude de la Sengle, Jean Parisot de Valette, and Alof 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 in bronze depicting the Baptism 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 the Baptism of Christ which might have been influenced by his master's undocumented designs but certainly is strongly dependent on a small baptism group by Alessandro Algardi.

The funerary monument of Grand Master Marc'Antonio Zondadari (died 1722), nephew of Pope 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.

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 eight langues (or divisions). The following chapels are located on the south side of the church:

Chapel of Our Lady of Philermos, also known as the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament – originally contained an icon of Our Lady of Philermos, which had been in the possession of the Order since the Crusades. The icon was taken to Russia by Grand Master Ferdinand von Hompesch zu Bolheim when the Order was expelled from Malta in 1798 and it is now found at the National Museum of Montenegro.
Chapel of the Langue of Auvergne – dedicated to Saint Sebastian. Its altarpiece depicts the saint's martyrdom, and dates back to the 17th century. The chapel contains the funerary monument of Grand Master Annet de ClermontGessant (died 1660).
Chapel of the Langue of Aragon – dedicated to Saint George. Its altarpiece is Saint George on Horseback, and it is considered to be one of Mattia Preti's masterpieces. Grand Masters Martin de Redin (died 1660), Raphael Cotoner (died 1663), Nicolas Cotoner (died 1680) and Ramon Perellos y Roccaful (died 1720) are buried in funerary monuments in this chapel.
Chapel of the Langue of Castile, Leon and Portugal – dedicated to Saint James. Its altarpiece depicts the saint in an aesthetically pleasing manner, and it is the work of Mattia Preti.

The painting depicting The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist (1608) by Caravaggio (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 the chiaroscuro style.