History is often seen as having already been written and never to be changed. We think it manifests itself only through dusty fingerprints on yellowing books and cobwebs lingering on forgotten tombs, a concept more dead than alive.
But history is a living thing, which grows and thrives the more we experience and understand it. We can see this in the Triumph of the Eucharist tapestries now hanging in St John’s Co-Cathedral for the first time since 1990.
The magnificent creations have been a source of joy ever since they were commissioned in 1698 by the then recently crowned head of the Order of St John, Grand Master Ramon Perellos. The tapestries’ contract was given to a weaver in Brussels, and it is said the city held a week-long party to mark the awarding of this prestigious, and lucrative, commission.
Fast forward to the 21st century and these 29 tapestries, the largest complete set in the world, were no longer able to hold back the ravages of time. Luckily, St John’s Co-Cathedral Foundation has coordinated their restoration, a process so complex that it took a staggering 16 years to complete at a cost of €1.2 million.
Our collective thanks must also go to the experts at the Royal Manufacturers De Wit Laboratories in Belgium, whose lengthy toils over this labour, with love, has enrichened one of our nation’s most important cultural treasures and left it reinvigorated for future generations of Maltese, and the many visitors to our islands, to enjoy.
But we should not content ourselves only with safeguarding national treasures of record-breaking dimensions. To progress in a healthy way, a nation must acknowledge and appreciate where they came from and build on those foundations in a sustainable way. For every thread woven back into these tapestries, a historic house has been demolished around the Maltese islands, or extended upwards, or had its façade retained while its whole interior is demolished.
Our ancestors gave us a legacy to be proud of, but we are often too blasé with it, too ready to undo what should be preserved, too eager to succumb to greed when we should be embracing our proud, vibrant history.
Our ancestors gave us a legacy to be proud of, but we are often too blasé with it, too ready to undo what should be preserved, too eager to succumb to greed when we should be embracing our proud, vibrant history
However, while the hanging of the tapestries in the cathedral, as they were made to be, is cause for national celebration, it has nevertheless served as a stark reminder of the ongoing delays in the creation of the new cathedral museum, in which the tapestries are supposed to be permanently housed.
The cathedral’s foundation had announced in 2013 that the new museum would open its doors in 2018, while the curator of the cathedral and its museum, was previously reported to have estimated that the new building’s doors would open in 2023.
Anyone walking down Merchants Street in Valletta today can see that the space reserved for the new museum remains just that – a worrying gap at the side of the cathedral, with little progress visible and clearly many years of construction remaining.
The foundation should give a full and frank report of the current state of play of the planned museum, even if no progress has been made.
The hanging of the Triumph of the Eucharist tapestries is a once-in-a-generation moment, so whatever your weekend plans might be, a trip to St John’s Co-Cathedral, where guided tours are being provided around the tapestries, would be a worthy investment in Malta’s history, as rich and alive today as it was when Perellos brought these glorious threads here more than three centuries ago.