The original altar of the opulent St John’s Co-Cathedral was simple and made of stone, and its exact position at the very back of the presbytery has been located following works on the underlying crypt.

These led to the unearthing of the altar, dating back to 1577, a finding hailed as “exciting” by the Co-Cathedral’s curator.

Cynthia De Giorgio had always been puzzled about where it was originally positioned. She had been wondering what the layout of the original altar looked like since she took on the role of curator 17 years ago. 

The original layout with the choir in front of the main altar.

When it was discovered as the presbytery flooring was uprooted, she could not believe she was standing on the steps that Grand Master Jean Levesque de la Cassiere had built and walked on.

It has been three years now, but despite the importance of the finding, few know of it and it has been covered again.

The two stone steps leading to the stark and small stone altar and the simple balustrade are now visible through glass at the far end of the presbytery and the layout of the previous altar has been re-sketched.

It shows that the choir stalls were once positioned in front of the altar before being pushed behind it, as it stands today, in accordance with dictates that the singing should be a mere accompaniment to Mass. The choir stalls are, in fact, ill-fitting, De Giorgio said of the current layout.

The current layout of the presbytery.

She explained that in 1577, when St John’s Co-Cathedral was built, it was completely bare – “a  beautiful shell of globigerina limestone” – with no tombstones, gold and marble and the simplest of adornments.

But following the Council of Trent, the instructions were to honour God through the most beautiful and exuberant materials, she explained. 

We knew through archival research how the altar was before, but now we have found it and seen it- Curator Cynthia De Giorgio

With time, the co-cathedral was embellished in what is known as the baroque style and the finding showed strict Tridentine instructions were adhered to.

The altar was elevated to a height that could be seen by the whole congregation, with lots of focus on the Eucharist, De Giorgio explained about the changes that came about in the 1600s.

“We knew through archival research how the altar was before, but now we have found it and seen it,” she said, referring to the works undertaken to install climate-change equipment in the crypt, which required removing the flooring above.

Back when the co-cathedral underwent embellishment works, the original stonework was not thrown away but used to raise the level of the new presbytery, she said.

The stone slab with the position of the original stone balustrades.

In the process of the works on the crypt, four little round windows on the ground above it, probably for ventilation, but also to pay homage without entering it, were also discovered.

The finding is also interesting because it sheds light on the still spiritual and religious character of the Knights of the Order of St John “when it was a proper monks’ church”.

The painting of the Baptism of Christ, the original altarpiece, is still in the sacristy, De Giorgio said, adding that there must have been a stone casing to hold it in place.

Recent restoration work on a Mattia Preti painting rekindled interest as it shows what this could have looked like, “giving a visual”, she said, piecing the puzzle together.

The original painting was replaced by the grand, larger-than-life-size statues behind the altar as something striking was required to be seen from the entrance of the cathedral.

“Who knows what is left to discover,” said De Giorgio, who would now like to reconstruct a 3D model of the original altar layout.