ecclesiastical

In November 1573, the construction of the Convent Church in Valletta was commenced. The church served as a substitute for the old Convent Church of the Knights in Birgu. Grandmaster Jean L’Eveque de La Cassière financed the project, and construction was almost finished in 1577.

St. John’s Co-Cathedral is certainly Cassar’s most important work. He orientated himself on the Augustinian Church when designing St. John’s, as several similarities can be figured out: The church also consists of a nave with chapels instead of aisles (here there are six chapels on each side), and a slightly pitched tunnel-vault again roofs the nave. Crosswise oval openings, which are simply cut into the vault, light the interior.
	plan of st. john's co-cathedral in valletta

The pilasters on the walls of the nave again do not carry an entablature, but the ribs of the vault spring directly from the capitals of the pilasters. The fifth rib appears thicker and marks the transition from the nave to the higher choir in the east.

Like in the Augustinian church, the chapels of St. John’s can be entered through arcades and are connected with each other by small rectangular openings. Each chapel carries a small dome and gets its light from a semi-circular window on the outer wall.

chapels of st. john's co-cathedral

The unusual feature of the interior of St. John’s lies in its emphasized horizontal alignment to the east. This is caused by the rather low nave, which makes the church appear wider and shorter than it actually is. On the other hand, the huge tunnel-vault with its slightly pitched ribs emphasizes the horizontal line, while an accentuation of the vertical is missing, because Cassar leaves out an entablature – possibly due to a lack of space. Consequently, the spectator’s eyes are directed to the High Altar on the east end.

It has always been assumed that Cassar had originally planned a longer nave and an apsis, but in this case the length of the nave would not have been proportional to its width, and the church would have projected beyond the street block.

nave of st. john's co-cathedral, valletta

An engraving from 1582 even shows the church with a dome and a lantern: The dome is situated on the thicker fifth rib that marks the transition from the nave to the choir. The corresponding buttress on the outside also appears wider and stronger than the others. This means that these supporting pillars were actually meant to carry more weight and that Cassar must have originally planned a dome for St. John’s.

roof of st. john's co-cathedral with thicker buttress (centre)

The west façade of St. John’s also underwent some alterations, which were mostly done during the seventeenth century (for example, the balusters on the bell-towers). Still, the façade shows several of Cassar’s typical architectural features, like the simple cornices that divide the storeys horizontally and the Doric pilasters, which give the façade its vertical line.

Like in his churches’ interiors, Cassar again omits a full entablature on the two-storeyed central part of the façade. On top it merely ends with a simple cornice and a crowning pediment. However, on the second storey of the towers, which flank the façade, Cassar introduces an entablature.

main entrance on west facade of st. john's

An anonymous painting from the time of Grandmaster Jean-Paul De Lascaris Castellar (1636-1657) gives some hints on the original appearance of the façade of St. John’s Co-Cathedral: The opening behind the balcony, for example, used to be a rectangular window with a large triangular pediment. Mattia Preti was responsible for these alterations. He began with the interior decoration of St. John’s in 1662, and for better lighting of the interior he enlarged the window on the west façade as well as the windows of the vault. These must have been originally smaller and rectangular; today’s oval shape of the openings is typical baroque.

17th century painting of st. john's

Later additions of the church include the wings with the sacristies and the oratory as well as the corridors that run parallel to the chapels. The side wings were erected in 1603/4, but according to their design, Cassar might have planned them.

However, there is a proof that he had definitely not planned them from the beginning onwards: The interior wall of the sacristy that adjoins the first chapel on the left shows a pilaster carrying the first rib of the vault. This pilaster extends through the coffered tunnel-vault of the sacristy and continues in the room above it. Next to the pilaster one can make out the walled-up semi-circular window of the adjoining chapel. From this, one can conclude that this wall was originally the outer wall of the church – or at least planned as such.