Restoration - Works of Art Given a New Lease of Life
One of the main objectives of The Foundation is to restore and conserve the priceless works of art in St John’s Co-Cathedral and Museum. The work involved is extremely specialised, time consuming and expensive, but also vital if such treasures of international importance are to be preserved for the appreciation of future generations. Below are links to the examples of our restoration works:
The Grand Masters Crypt
The Grand Masters Crypt is a subterranean chamber beneath the high altar of St John’s Co-Cathedral. It was created at the time the church was under construction in the late sixteenth century. It contains the remains of the first twelve Grand Masters who headed the Order between 1522 and 1623. Read more...
Chapel of Italy
The 5th Financial Protocol, signed between the Government of Malta and the Government of the Republic of Italy, made possible the conservation and restoration of the Chapel of Italy. This project was entrusted to the Ditta Sante Guido Restauri of Rome and was completed in November 2005.
The Beheading of St John the Baptist
Restoration of one of Caravaggio’s most famous masterpieces began in April 1997 when it was sent to the Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence as the Comune di Firenze had offered to restore it. Read more...
St Jerome Writing
This masterpiece, also by Caravaggio, was sent to the Istituto Centrale per il Restauro in Rome in the 1960s to be relined. On the 29th December 1984 it was stolen and it was recovered on 4th August 1988. Two years later, the canvas, damaged when the burglars cut the painting out of its frame, was sent for restoration once again to the Istituto Centrale per il Restauro.
St George and the Dragon
Mattia Preti’s outstanding painting of St George and the Dragon, which is the altarpiece of the Chapel of Aragon, had such serious and urgent preservation problems that it was sent for restoration to the Istituto Centrale per il Restauro in Rome. The process started in January 2004.
In April 2005, to commemorate the completion of its restoration, the painting was exhibited in its full splendour, first in Rome, and then again in an exhibition in the Co-Cathedral on its return to Malta.
Conservation/Restoration of the Flagellation of Christ
The Flagellation of Christ (383.5cmx300.5cm) is a mannerist work by the Florentine artist Stefano Pieri painted in 1572. It is not known whether Pieri, who worked with Giorgio Vasari, visited the island and executed the work here or if it came to the island as a complete work. The painting hangs above the altar of the sacristy in St John’s Co-Cathedral, it was however painted prior to the building of the church and is recorded to have initially been hanging in the chapel of the Langue of England in the last years of the 16th Century before being transferred to the Sacristy. Read more...
Conservation/Restoration of the Lascaris Bell
In 2008 The St John’s Co-Cathedral Foundation concluded the restoration of the Lascaris bell. This ambitious project took over 2 years. The bell cast in 1636 during the term of Grand Master Antoine de Paule was probably commissioned by Bailiff Jean Paul Lascaris de Castellar, successor of Grand Master De Paule. It was almost surely cast in the Foundry of the Order known as the Ferreria. Four armorial shields are found on the front, obverse and quarter points. Read more...
Conservation/Restoration of the Arches of the Nave
St. John’s Co-Cathedral consists of a barrel -vaulted nave buttressed with arches leading to side chapels. Each side chapel belongs to a specific langue of the Order each responsible for the decoration of its own chapel. The walls of these chapels were lavishly carved out of limestone to form relief carvings, which were gilded creating an aura of dazzling brilliance. Read more...
The Oratory Organ
The 5th Italo-Maltese protocol funding also included financial assistance for the restoration of the early 17th century organ situated in the Oratory of the Co-Cathedral. Fratelli Ruffatti of Padova was commissioned for technical and scientific consultancy and the actual restoration of all the parts of the organ. The restoration of the organ case was entrusted to M C Restauri of Noto. Read more...
St Charles Borromeo
The painting of St Charles Borromeo, hanging in the Chapel of the Anglo-Bavarian Langue, was in a poor state of preservation and needed restoration. Its restoration was sponsored by Heritage Malta and was carried out by professional restorers at the National Museum of Fine Arts. Read more...
Restoration and Conservation of the Tapestries
In 2006 two of a set of 29 priceless 18th C Flemish Tapestries were sent to the De Wit Laboratories Belgium for restoration. The Belgian Government provided the transport, with the assistance of the Belgian Ambassador to Malta, Thomas Baekelandt. The pair represented The Triumph of the Catholic Church and The Portrait of Grandmaster Perellos.
The process included the removal of dust, washing with a fine mist, consolidating loose parts and finally stitching. The restoration of the complete set of tapestries will take up to ten years at an estimated cost of one million euros. The Foundation intends to restore all the tapestries two of which were restored in 1997. At present two tapestries are in Belgium: The Institution of Corpus Christi and The Triumph of Charity. The King Baudouin Foundation of Belgium, committed to supporting the restoration of Flemish works art, sponsored the restoration of The Triumph of Charity.
The tapestries were woven according to the designs of Peter Paul Rubens at the Flemish atelier of Judecos de Vos, famous as the court Weaver for King Louis XIV. They were presented to the church in 1701 by the newly appointed Aragonese Grandmaster Ramon Perellos y Roccaful as part of a traditional custom where by the newly appointed Grandmasters bestowed a gift or gioia to the church. Read more...