Two restoration projects at St John's

President Guido de Marco said yesterday that St John's Co-Cathedral was synonymous with the new concept that will characterise the soon-to-be enlarged European Union which will be linked by culture rather than by "steel and coal".

Hundreds of years ago, the co-cathedral was already promoting this spirit, he added.

Every visit to St John's, Professor de Marco said, presented a new experience. He noted that famed Maltese architect Glormu Cassar had left his identity on the conventual church of the Order of the Knights of St John as he had on the Palace of the Grand Masters, now the President's Palace, among other properties.

The President was speaking at St John's during the initiation of two restoration projects: the Chapel of the Langue of Italy and the 16th century organ at the oratory. Fratelli Ruffati of Padua will handle the restoration of the organ.

The restoration, costing over €600,000 (Lm257,500) will come from the Italian financial protocol.

The Under-Secretary of State at the Italian Ministry for Cultural Property and Activities, Nicola Bono, compared the friendship between Malta and Italy to the relationship that St John's signifies, that is the twinning of top craftsmanship between Glormu Cassar and the Calabrian painter Mattia Preti.

Sig. Bono presented Professor de Marco with a medal for his contribution towards the preservation of the national heritage by the Italian Ministry for Cultural Property and Activities.

Ray Bondin, executive co-ordinator of the Valletta and Floriana Rehabilitation Project which is carrying out the projects, said that the VRP had, since it was set up 15 years ago, undertaken 35 restoration jobs, 15 of which were major ones.

He noted that Italian restorer Sante Guido, whose name is "a guarantee of a job well done", would handle the chapel's restoration.

The Chapel of Italy was built in 1578 and the decoration in stone including the monogram RC for Grand Master Rafael Cotoner was carried out in the 1660s.

The altarpiece by Mattia Preti shows the mystic marriage of St Catherine of Alexandria, protectress of the Langue of Italy forming part of the Order of St John.