{"id":1522,"date":"2020-09-29T18:54:40","date_gmt":"2020-09-29T18:54:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wenomadwehappy.com\/?p=1522"},"modified":"2020-09-29T18:54:40","modified_gmt":"2020-09-29T18:54:40","slug":"from-fish-to-caravaggio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wenomadwehappy.com\/index.php\/2020\/09\/29\/from-fish-to-caravaggio\/","title":{"rendered":"From Fish to Caravaggio"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I guess that title really should be from Caravaggio to fish, as that was the order we did things in! But then you have the prehistoric stuff thrown in there. I’ll just leave it as is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We will be making a couple of treks back to Valletta. I don’t know how people manage to only spend a day or two there…there is so much to see! For this weekend though, the focus was on St John’s Co-Cathedral. I had been inside the weekend we arrived on Malta, but the Husband had not. Naturally, it was a blisteringly hot day. We were very grateful for the fans that we in operation everywhere…how was it manageable in there before electric fans? It certainly was not designed to allow for air flow. The experience of being inside that building though was worth it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

First off, because this is my blog (\ud83d\ude1dto the Cousin), let us begin with a brief history. Like, duh. The Knights of St John came to Malta in 1530. At that time the main city was Mdina – and it had been the main town since Roman times. Initially the Knights also settled there, but as these Knights were warriors as well as religious, they chose to relocate to Birgu, the town neighboring us. After the defeat of the Ottomans in 1565 the Knights chose to build an all new city upon the large rock across the harbor from Birgu, naming it Valletta, after their Grandmaster Jean de Vallette, who led them to their victory over the Ottomans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Construction of the church began in 1572 and continued until 1577. Originally the structure was fairly simple. The interior was not stark, but was not elaborately decorated. And then this Roman painter guy showed up, one Michelangelo Merisi de Caravaggio. He was asked to do a painting in the oratory of the church. The rest is history. The painting is the Beheading of St John and is one of Caravaggio’s greatest works. The artist was in the last two years of his life when he made this one. I can honestly say it was humbling to stand there and look at it. Especially since we were able to enjoy it without crowds!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the mid – 1600s another Italian artist named Mattia Preti came to Malta. He was put in charge of renovating the interior in the current Baroque style. Baroque is not one of my favorite artistic styles – it makes me think of a teenager just figuring out how to wear makeup and is wearing way too much. But somehow it works at St John’s. I think it’s because the background color is dark, rather than the white or cream more commonly found in Baroque. Not only did he redo the interior of the church, he also did several notable paintings in it too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enough rambling on the history! Here are photos…I had about 300 to choose from \ud83d\ude44<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We were allowed to climb up to the upper balcony. Each of the archways on each side is a separate chapel for each of the Langues (countries that made up the Knights: Provence, France, Auvergne, Aragon, Castille, Leon, Portugal, Bavaria and Poland. England was one but was kicked out)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Some close ups of the ceiling. These scenes were painted by Mattia Preti.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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More close-ups<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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It was amazing to get to see the ceiling so close up!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Tombs of previous Grandmaster Knights<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Chapel of the Langue of Aragon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The main altar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Super sad not to be able to go into this chapel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Chapel of the Langue of Auvergne. Love those pillars!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Wall details<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Tombs of Knights cover the floor of the entire church<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Gorgeous Maltese cross<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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That dome!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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St Euphemia of Calcedonia. Yep, just hanging out under the altar.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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I thought this was really beautiful<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The little Caravaggio: St Jerome writing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The biggie: The Beheading of St John by Caravaggio. It is amazing, simply amazing.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The Chapel of Aragon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Chapel of the Langue of Italy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Measure twice, cut once. Oops.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After all of this artistic glory we hopped the ferry over to Sliema which is where the main shopping mall is on Malta. Sliema is interesting. There’s some old stuff and a whole lot of new. The Husband was very happy to have Thai food for lunch (and it was good!). We did have to laugh: as soon as we walked into the mall we were greeted by the smell of Cinnabon! This area is not worth devoting photos to…it looked like any other mall!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We did see this beautiful old school sailing boat in the harbor<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On Sunday we grabbed a taxi to Marsaxlokk (marsa-shlockx, sort of). This is the fishing village of Malta. There are other smaller ones, but this is where the restaurants of the island come to get their fresh seafood every day. On Sundays it’s a big market. We got there a little late in hopes that there wouldn’t be much crowds. It wasn’t too bad and most had masks on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fish. I can only imagine what this looked like first thing in the morning!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Market stalls<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Mega shallots!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The classic Maltese boat. The eyes date back to the Phoenicians!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The Husband loves to take these panorama shots, they just don’t work well in the blog. I had to use this one though.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We found a lovely little restaurant for lunch, run by Filipo. What a joy it was! He even sent us on our way with a shot of limoncello after our lunch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monday morning we had one more sight to see before beginning our work day. We were going to the Hypogeum in Tarxien. The Hypogeum is an underground prehistoric temple and burial site. It dates from about 3300-3000BC! It was accidently found (as all good archeological sites are!) while a homeowner was digging a water cistern in 1902. Unfortunately, the archeologist working on the site died while out of the country and his report was lost (why didn’t he do a backup or email it to someone? Huh?), so any information gleaned at the time is lost. There were approximately 7,000 people buried within the structure. A vast majority of them are still there as it is impossible to move the fragments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is literally in the middle of a neighborhood!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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That’s the entrance. The tour begins with a brief film and then you are guided down below. We only had one other couple with us so it was very nice and easy to keep distance.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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I’m going to admit right here that these are photos of postcards. No photography was allowed inside. So, sorry to Heritage Malta…hopefully they don’t get mad at me!<\/em> This is the actual temple area. The shaping on the ceiling has helped archeologists to be able to visualize what above ground temple might have looked like.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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One of the burial chambers. Note the red paint is still there. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Chambers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Steps leading down to the lower levels<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Some of the wall decorations still exist!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There are some fabulous (better) photos on the Heritage Malta website www.heritagemalta.org<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the Hypogeum we made our way a few blocks to an above ground prehistoric temple complex, cleverly called the Tarxien Temples. Again accidently discovered after farmers kept complaining about big stones in their fields. Of course, this was after they had dug a big portion of it – oops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Looking from the back side of the site. Those loose stones are what the farmers were complaining about.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Some of the various rooms within the structure. The ground is kept up high to provide support.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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I’m guessing this statue would have had the rest of the body too…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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While this vessel was obviously found broken it was able to be pieced back together in its entirety!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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One of the rooms had these incredibly carvings all over. Keep in mind – no metal tools! This was done with stone or bone tools.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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It is thought that these round stones were wheels for moving the larger block. How ingenious!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Okay, so the temple was really cool. But I was fascinated by the cover structure! The engineering on this thing is super impressive.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It was a crazy busy few days but so worth it! A few days to work and not do too much, then for the next crazy idea…driving. Gulp.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I guess that title really should be from Caravaggio to fish, as that was the order we did things in! But then you have the prehistoric stuff thrown in there. I’ll just leave it as is. We will be making a couple of treks back to Valletta. I don’t know how people manage to only … <\/p>\n

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