The Great Temple 360

The Great Temple 360 -The Conventual Church of the Knights in Malta

The church of St John the Baptist is a unique architectural, historical, artistic and religious monument of great national and international importance and it is acclaimed as one of the most magnificent sites on the Maltese Islands. The Order of the Knights of St John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta, who came to Malta in 1530, built this magnificent temple in the new city Valletta soon after the Great Siege of 1565 and dedicated it to their patron saint John the Baptist. The sober and robust exterior holds within a unique and intriguing expression of Baroque art.

St John’s, today known as the Co-Cathedral, owes its rich and colourful history together with its artistic heritage to the fact that for several years it served as the conventual church of the Order of the Knights of St John on the island that they occupied and held as their ‘convento’. The Order was arranged into eight ‘langues’ which represented the different regions of Europe the members of the Order came from. The langues represented are those of Provence, of France, of Auvergne, of Aragon, of Catalonia and Navarre, of Castile, Leon and Portugal, of Italy, of Germany, and of the Anglo Bavarian langue. Hence the co-cathedral has an unequalled European dimension.

By: Cynthia De Gorgio

Format: hardback, boxed, contains a CD with European Sacred Hymns and Motets

Published: 2010

Condition: brand new.