Maltese wanderers. Fabulous luxury behind modest walls
First of all on arrival in Malta it was decided to visit, perhaps, the most important , the most striking and memorable sight of Malta in general - St. John's Cathedral. The fact is that on Saturday (it was just on Saturday morning) it is open until 12.30, closed on Sunday, and on Monday, who knows where with this carnival : )). And you can't miss the cathedral. When preparing the list of places of interest for inspection during the planning of the trip, this place was at number one. Was unanimously and unconditionally accepted for study, so, that is. without any of the controversy or discussion that usually occurs in our diverse family in terms of taste preferences.
Outwardly, of course, the cathedral building is unremarkable. An unfamiliar tourist cannot immediately guess that there is a cathedral or even just a church behind these walls. If you don’t have modern off-line maps, you won’t find the entrance right away. We later realized that the entrance is from the end of the building, and the exit is already through the central doors.
Photo from the Internet
And even when the navigator led us to the goal half an hour before the opening, we did not immediately believe him. The doors are closed, no pomposity on the porch, the cathedral, after all... No one crowds at the entrance, or maybe it’s not necessary here at all... Oh, my husband is a terrible alarmist in this regard. It starts: "Well, where did you and your friend, the navigator, take me. Or maybe nothing works at the carnival at all. " Etc. etc. , as they say : ). But, after half an hour, it became clear that it was the right place.
When you go inside, it seems that you have fallen into some kind of intricate box - unpretentious on the outside and fabulous on the inside - as if a secret mechanism has worked. Well, what a beauty, what a luxury, what a story!
By the way, the price of the visit also includes an audio guide, which is also available in Russian. Therefore, the enjoyment of this decoration is also accompanied by interesting information, not just dry numbers, but also interesting facts, curious details. Moreover, the audio guide is convenient, not just toggle buttons, there is a display with pictures (yeah, to clarify whether you are looking there) and spoken text.
All this luxury is the result, one might say, of competition between knightly langs, subdivisions or something, representing this or that state of that time (XVI-XVIII centuries) as part of the Order of Malta, whose patron saint is St. John the Baptist. The states hired the best sculptors and artists to decorate their chapel (chapel) in the cathedral, did not skimp on decorations and gifts.
The floor of the temple is the burial place of the knights and prominent personalities of Malta. The plate depicts the coat of arms of the knight and a brief description of his life, what he became famous for, what he did...
The audio guide route is built in such a way that the final part of it is an acquaintance with the world masterpiece - the painting by Michelangelo da Caravaggio "The Beheading of John the Baptist" (or "The Beheading of John the Baptist"). Well, here you can still tell a whole story, about Michelangelo, how he was knighted in a roundabout way, what a characteristic guy he was, and that, they say, he painted his picture under the impression of real events seen in his life... But I will not. And then you will come to the cathedral, but it will not be interesting anymore : ))
At the end of the tour, you can walk around the cathedral again if you are not tired of the crowd. There were no restrictions on movement and directions.
And at the end of the visit to the cathedral, the final touch is an overview of the entire space from the balcony. By the way, not everyone climbs it. In any case, we did not feel the crowds there. Probably, many, crazy as we are, do not notice the side door already at the very exit. Or version two, the number of people wishing to go up to the balcony is regulated by an employee, you have to wait a bit for your turn, not everyone is interested in this. And you definitely need to get up.
That's it, you can exhale and calmly go to digest the received mega-portion of golden glitter, curls, angels and other paintings and frescoes, walking along the streets of Valletta...
I'll say a smart phrase now : )) if you're in Malta, don't pass by! This is a wonderful, wonderful, marvelous, marvelous must be seen with your own eyes. Amateur photos of tourists do not convey all the grandeur and grandeur of knightly luxury.
In general, Valletta has a huge number of cathedrals and churches. But they are, for the most part, secretive. We are used to it: there is a church on the square, usually with its own territory. And there you will not immediately find the entrance to the temple in the general line of houses. You have to determine by the dome or the bell tower that it is somewhere here.
Or here: the church is hiding in the port buildings.
To be honest, when I first started sketching for my trip to Malta, I thought that St. John's Cathedral, which we looked at above - this is the one with a huge dome, which is visible on the postcards of Malta.
Or here: recognizable silhouettes in Maltese pictures.
But, as it turned out, upon a detailed study of the issue, this is the Carmelite Cathedralor the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. The basilica was almost completely rebuilt in the 70s of the last century on the site of a church destroyed by bombing during World War II, which, in turn, was built back in the 70s of the 17th century. This temple is not so popular with tourists. It attracts, in the majority, precisely with its huge dome. So I urgently needed to see what was hidden under it.
For all its visibility from afar, finding the cathedral was not so easy. Here, he seems to be here, but nothing is visible, and the dome has already hidden behind the buildings. Where is the entrance? And he is just in the general row of facades, completely invisible. By the way, the bell tower, which we see next to the dome of the Carmelite Cathedral in the view photos of Valletta, belongs to another cathedral - to St Paul's Cathedral nearby.
Photo from the Internet
We also visited several churches out of curiosity. And they even listened to the service a little, and that, conveniently, sitting on a bench. And, in general, one can say about all of them: modest on the outside - luxurious on the inside. But the Cathedral of St. John, of course, is the most luxurious of all : )
