St John’s Co-Cathedral Museum closed for extension and refurbishment works

The museum at St John’s Co-Cathedral has been temporarily closed as it enters the dismantling phase in preparation for its refurbishment and extension works.

The works are being managed by the St John’s Co-Cathedral Foundation, which is aiming to complete the project within three years. The refurbishment will allow all collections the foundation possesses to be displayed, including the twenty-nine Flemish tapestries, the sacred vestments, the silver collection, the illuminated manuscripts, and the Cappella Ardente.

The vestments hall will form part of the original carapecchia

According to the foundation, a Caravaggio Centre is being planned in order to put focus on the artist’s works, including The Beheading of St John, which will remain in the Oratory.

Furthermore, a tapestry chamber, which is still to be constructed, will house together the one-of-a-kind set of tapestries, which are presently dispersed in several rooms. The foundation said that the chamber will comprise appropriate lighting, climate control and reading areas.

The museum’s new entrance on Merchants’ street will facilitate accessibility for the physically challenged

The foundation added that the vestments hall will form part of the original carapecchia intended as a room were the Grand Masters used to dress in their sacred robes. It will house the collections donated by various Grand Masters as gioia to St John’s Co-Cathedral, then their conventual church.

The silver vaults will contain various religious monstrances and silver artefacts currently not being displayed anywhere in the current layout of the museum.

The museum’s new entrance on Merchants’ street will facilitate accessibility for the physically challenged.

The extension will have no direct impact on the church, foundation said.