Following years of delays, the St John’s Co-Cathedral modernised museum is set to open its doors in 2025, with extensive construction work planned to be completed by the end of this year.

The massive €13 million extension and rehabilitation project for one of Malta’s most historically important monuments has been ongoing for years and was originally meant to be completed by 2018.

The extension works include the rehabilitation of the existing area at the basement level, the restoration of the Bartolott Crypt, the construction of a Tapestry Hall, a Caravaggio Wing, and a new entrance/exit and ticketing area from Merchants Street – separating the museum from the church.

The main aim of the new museum is to utilise the buildings adjacent to the co-cathedral to accommodate the artefacts currently kept in storage. These  include the 29 Flemish tapestries which were up on display until last month.

The St John’s Co-Cathedral Foundation administers the cathedral and was set up in 2001 between the government and the Church.

Speaking to Times of Malta, foundation CEO Tonio Mallia said it is estimated that the museum will be completed by 2025.

“Currently we are working on two independent sites that pertain to the museum, which are the Tapestries Chamber and the Bartolott Crypt,” he said.

“From a construction point of view, the basement, which will hold the relics of the past, is fully erected and complete together with the ex-vestments’ areas. The foyer area has to be created through the construction of the base of the Tapestries Chamber.”

Another area where the vestments will be exhibited is already built and in the phase of restoration.

Mallia said the construction work in the museum areas should be complete by the end of the year. 

A render of the Caravaggio hall, which will include projections of Caravaggio’s St Jerome Writing and The Beheading of St John.

What artefacts will the museum exhibit?

Apart from the restored tapestries, the museum will showcase a number of the cathedral’s collections.

The museum will exhibit the church’s sacred vestments, the silver collection, the illuminated manuscripts and the Cappella Ardente.

The ground floor of the museum will house the Caravaggio Wing. The hall will exhibit Caravaggio’s St Jerome Writing painting, along with information about the famous artist’s life and his stay in Malta.

Museum-goers will also get to encounter Caravaggio’s paintings ‘face-to-face’ through digital projections. The projections will provide details of the two paintings, showcasing the artist’s brushwork, as well as his use of the chiaroscuro effect.

One of the main attractions of the museum is a chamber built specifically to exhibit the spectacular and recently restored tapestries.

The chamber will be on the first floor of the museum and be kept in a proper conservation environment.

Natural light can harm the delicate silk threads of the woven tapestries due to UV rays, so the chamber will not have any windows or apertures to the outdoors.

Where are the tapestries now?

For the first time in 33 years, one of the largest and most exquisite sets of tapestries woven during the Baroque era drew thousands of people to the St John’s Co-Cathedral last month.

The exhibition, titled A Gift of Glory featured the tapestries hanging along the nave of the cathedral for the first time since the visit of Pope John Paul II in 1990.

The tapestries, woven from wool and pure silk, took 16 years to restore and cost €1.3 million.

The tapestries took 16 years to restore and cost €1.3 million

Mallia explained that it took almost three weeks for the tapestries to be put up without damaging them and it took another two weeks to put them away in the church’s annexe.

“Both for the hanging and taking them down, these had to be done in a perfectly horizontal position to avoid any warping or bending because that causes a lot of damage to the silk threads,” he said.

He said folding of the tapestries had to be avoided to prevent any damage to the silk, and instead they were rolled on wide tubes to avoid sharp bends. The tubes had to be suspended in a structure to avoid pressure on the tapestries.

“Every now and then these tapestries will be unrolled and inspected with minimal handling possible to avoid any damage.”