We decided that today was a day for Valletta, so set off for the bus stop. Something went wrong today though, because for the first time we had to wait for the bus, about 25 minutes, and since it was the first bus for ages, it was absolutely packed and we had to stand all the way to Valletta, a journey that takes about 20 minutes.
We began the day by visiting the Museum of Fine Arts so as to buy tickets for the Hypogeum. We hadn't realised that we should have bought these tickets on-line more than a week ago! However, we managed to get 2 last minute tickets for tomorrow afternoon. We though we might as well begin by seeing the Museum of Fine Arts, so we just started there. The Museum is housed in what my sister's guide book has described as a fine Baroque Palazzo, which I seem, unaccountably, not to have photographed - I can't quite think why, I seem to have photographed just about every other building in the town! It is just as imposing inside though; this is the main staircase.
It houses a great many paintings by Mattia Preti, a painter who was much influenced by Caravaggio. One of the highlights is Christ the Redeemer by Guido Reni, but the light reflected from it in the centre and spoiled my photo. Other photos of painting I liked, such as one by Ribera, were similarly spoiled by the light reflections, as was the great treasure of this museum, a watercolour by Turner of the Grand Harbour. It is behind glass, so photos are impossible.
After this visit, we went to see the Cathedral, the Co-Cathedral of St John. This is a very plain, rather severe building, built in 1572.
It originally had an equally plain interior, but the severe inside was transformed nearly a century later and is now more ornately Baroque than I can easily describe. There is not one inch of wall that is not ornamented with something - huge paintings by Mattia Preti, ornate carving, gilded scrolls and curlicues everywhere; even the floors are completely covered with the inlaid marble tombstones of the Knights of St John.
The side chapels are also richly decorated, each one dedicated to one of the 'langues' into which the knights are divided, and mostly housing memorials to various Grand Masters of the order, covered in carved marble and bronze statues, not to mention more gilding and curlicues.
The two great treasures housed in the cathedral oratory are two paintings by Caravaggio, which you are not allowed to photograph, even without a flash. I was very glad to see them, as they do not leave the Cathedral, so you are not likely to see them on exhibition elsewhere. The Beheading of St John is huge, dominating the room, very theatrical as the light strikes the executioner and other figures are in shadow, and very gory as the blood pours from St John's neck. A woman stands nearby with a shallow metal dish ready to receive the head once it has been cut off. St Jerome, on the opposite wall, is much calmer but no less striking, the saint sitting on his bed half naked, wrapped in a bright red cloak. I bought postcards of both pictures, since I wasn't allowed to take photos.
Other items we weren't allowed to photograph were the huge Belgian tapestries based on painting by Poussin and Reubens.
Being by then rather full of art, we had a quick bite to eat. Then we headed off for the State Rooms of the Grand Palace. The Grand Palace, like the Cathedral, also has quite a severe exterior, but is far more ornate inside. It was used by all the Grand Masters of the Order from the time of its completion in 1571 until the Order left Malta in 1789 when the island was captured by Napoleon. It became the official residence of the British Governors in the early 1800s, and is now Malta's Parliament House. This gives you some idea of the interior,
though I have to say I preferred the delightful courtyards.
At 4 o'clock, we took a tour of the Casa Rocca Piccola, a 16th century palace which is still lived in by a noble Maltese family. The central courtyard was particularly charming,
and we saw 12 rooms in the piano nobile, which are furnished with antique furniture, some of whuch was very old indeed.
This chest is dated to the time the Knights arrived in Malta - about 1570.
Some of the rooms are still in use by the family. This is the summer dining room.
We were able to see how the noble family lived - not very comfortably I would say, since they had to use portable heaters and electricity was only installed in the 1980s. Beneath the house were what had been huge cisterns, which were converted into air-raid shelters in the last war. I found them too claustrophobic and had to go out quite quickly - thank heavens I didn't have to shelter there during the bombing of Malta.
The tour took about 75 minutes, and we enjoyed it very much, but we were completely exhausted by the end. We had been on our feet fairly continuously for 7 hours, and it was far too long! We adjourned to McDonalds to use their free Wi-Fi, since the Internet connection in our hotel is so poor. I've hardly ever been inside a McDonalds in my life, but can now report that the coffee is quite acceptable but the hot chocolate is fairly horrible. Still, at least I was able post 2 days worth of blog.
We caught a bus back to our hotel, where, to our great joy, we were able to move to a room with a sea view. No more having to keep the light on all day and wondering what the weather is like outside!
No comments:
Post a Comment