The St John’s Co-Cathedral Museum is to be extended and refurbished in a €13 million project due for completion by 2018.

The St John’s Co-Cathedral Foundation said the main museum hall will be extended so that all 29 Flemish Tapestries can be exhibited together.

The museum will be extended by making maximum use of its current footprint, also utilising current vacant spaces.

The museum will also get a new and spacious entrance.

The extension will have no direct impact on St John’s Co-Cathedral and has been designed to allow flexible opening hours of the museum.

A Caravaggio Centre is planned, focusing on the life and works of the most celebrated artist of the Baroque era, whose most prestigious painting, The Beheading of St John, graces the Oratory of the Co-Cathedral.

The refurbishment will also make it possible for other exhibits, such as church Vestments, the Silver Collection, the Illuminated manuscripts, and the Cappella Ardente to be better displayed

Mgr Carmel Zammit, President of the St John’s Co-Cathedral Foundation said the need for refurbishment and extension had been felt for a long time.

“We want the Co-Cathedral Museum to be accessible, informative and modern. It will also relieve the church from the conservation stress caused by crowds of visitors.”

“St John’s Co-Cathedral is a unique artistic gem and we must further enhance and share the enjoyment of this European treasure”.

Cynthia de Giorgio, Curator of St John’s Co-Cathedral, said the way how visitors prefer to look, listen and learn has changed. For this reason the museum will be equipped to meet the expectations of the modern visitor.

Plans to extend the museum by building an underground wing below St John Square raised a furore some years ago and the project was eventually abandoned.