ecclesiastical

St. John’s Co-Cathedral shows several influences from Italian Renaissance and Mannerist architecture that Cassar had brought to Malta from his study tour. According to a document , he was supposed to visit Rome and Naples in 1569, with the purpose of getting an impression of the latest architectural trends and some inspiration for his own buildings that he had to design for the Order of St. John.

There are some model churches that might have influenced Cassar when he designed the façade of St. John’s. The part between the Western towers of St. John’s looks rather like the façade of a secular building if one leaves out the crowning pediment. The balcony over the main entrance, for example, is a typical feature for Renaissance palazzi.

Leonard Mahoney compared it to Michelangelo’s model for the façade of the Medici Chapel and to his New Sacristy of San Lorenzo in Florence. According to Mahoney’s measurements, the relation between height and width is almost the same at the St. John’s and the San Lorenzo façades. Both consist of two storeys and a pediment on top. But Mahoney did not take the mezzanine floor that Michelangelo adds to his façade design into consideration. Therefore, there is no corresponding division of storeys as Mahoney claims.

model for medici chapel, florence

He also tried to prove that Cassar knew the exact measurements of Michelangelo’s New Sacristy of San Lorenzo by comparing its elevation with Cassar’s design. However, Mahoney did not keep Mattia Preti’s alterations on the façade of St. John’s in mind when comparing it with both of Michelangelo’s designs. Therefore, a comparison with these two important Mannerist buildings can only be made on a limited scale.

St. John’s Co-Cathedral also shows some influences from Michelangelo’s design for the apse of St. Peter’s in Rome: Like on the façade of St. John’s, the Doric pilasters of the apse’s outer wall only support a cornice instead of a full entablature on the upper storey. The round-arched openings of the bell-towers of St. John’s might also have been inspired by the openings of Michelangelo’s apse.

Twin towers were quite unusual in Renaissance and Mannerist ecclesiastical architecture, but there are a few examples in Italy that also show two towers flanking a church façade, like Bramante’s and Sangallo’s designs for St. Peter. Both were not carried out, but Cassar might have seen the models or drawings for the church on his visit in Rome.

However, Cassar’s towers show mainly medieval architectural features; they resemble the campanile of the old Mdina Cathedral and the one of the Dominican Church in Birgu, which was destroyed in the Second World War. These medieval towers also consisted of three storeys and had round-arched openings for the bells.

tower of st. john's

Regarding the layout of his ecclesiastical buildings, Cassar always used a simple rectangular plan with a straight eastern end and without a built apse. He might have got the idea for this and the slightly pitched vault from the medieval chapels in Malta, like for example, from Santa Marija ta’ Bir Miftuh in Gudja.
	*interior of santa marija ta' bir miftuh in gudja*

However, there are also parallels to Renaissance and Mannerist churches in Italy. Leon Battista Alberti’s church Sant’ Andrea in Mantua, for example, shows some structural analogies in plan with Cassar’s churches: Sant’ Andrea also consists of a long nave with a tunnel-vault and has chapels instead of aisles on the sides.

	The same similarities can be found in Vignola’s Il Gesu in Rome, which was the model church for Catholic churches at the end of the Seicento and which marks the beginning of the baroque. Moreover, Il Gesu has the same effect as St. John’s: The impression of a wide and high space is caused by the huge tunnel-vault, which leads to a concentration on the High Altar in the east.
*plan of il gesu in rome*

Obviously, Cassar’s buildings are only simplified versions of these churches. One has to imagine the interior of the Augustinian church and of St. John’s much simpler and sparser to come close to Cassar’s original design, as the interior decoration of both churches was commenced at a later stage.

The same goes for the other churches that are attributed to Cassar and that hardly show any traces of his original design today. According to the document of 1581, Cassar was also responsible for the following churches in Valletta: St. Mary of Porto Salvo, St. Paul Shipwreck, St. Mary of Jesus and the Carmelite, Augustinian, Dominican and Franciscan churches.

Most of these churches were entirely rebuilt, and only a few resemble St. John’s Co-Cathedral and the Augustinian church in Rabat: The Carmelite church, built in 1573, and the church of St. Mary of Jesus, built during the rule of Grandmaster La Cassière, still show some structural similarities in plan, i.e. the tunnel-vaulted nave with side chapels. However, the openings connecting the chapels with each other appear wider than in Cassar’s other churches. Therefore, they must have been later enlarged.

Some authors claim that Valletta’s first church, La Nostra Signora delle Vittorie (built in 1566), was also planned by Cassar, although it is not mentioned in the document of 1581. The building consists of a rectangular plan and a nave with niches replacing the usual chapels; the apse was later added. The nave is roofed by a tunnel-vault, and ribs spring from the wall pilasters – which is indeed a parallel to Cassar’s churches.

tunnel-vault of la nostra signora delle vittorie in valletta

However, this cannot be a proof that Cassar had built this church, because by the time it was erected, he was still Francesco Laparelli’s assistant and occupied with Valletta’s fortifications. But this church might have served Cassar as a model for his own ecclesiastical buildings.

Opposite La Nostra Signora delle Vittorie, one can find the church of Santa Caterina d’Italia, which is currently being restored. It was either built in 1576 or after 1581, which could be the reason why it is not listed in the citation of 1581. The church is attached to the neighbouring Auberge d’Italie that was built by Cassar. Therefore, many art historians assume that Cassar also designed the church of the Italian langue.

santa catarina d'italia in valletta

However, there are differing opinions about the church’s original structure. Although it was enlarged and modified in c. 1683, its present shape, i.e. the centralized plan and the dome, is usually attributed to Cassar. But as we can see from his other churches, Cassar always stuck to the simple longitudinal plan. He used the same pattern all over again (which he also did with his auberges in Valletta), and it is therefore quite bold to attribute the centralized plan of Santa Catarina d’Italia to Cassar.

Moreover, the various centralized churches that can be found in Malta were all not built until the seventeenth century. In Italy they became fashionable in the early Baroque, but even if Cassar had seen such a plan on his study tour to Italy, it is questionable whether he was actually able to plan such a structure because of his lack of training. Cassar had also never built a dome before; he had merely planned one for St. John’s.

Still, Cassar might have originally built this church. Today’s plan has the shape of an octagon that is connected to a rectangular room bearing the chancel in the east. It could be assumed that the eastern part belongs to the original structure: First of all, it is attached to the neighbouring Auberge d’Italie, and secondly, on the sides one can find semi-circular windows that resemble those of the chapels of St. John’s. Even Hughes is of the opinion that the length of the rectangular room used to be a longitudinal plan of “stumpy proportions”, although he still likes to attribute the centralized plan to Cassar.

It seems that many authors see Cassar as the Maltese version of a Michelangelo by attributing sophisticated and modern Italian designs to him or by interpreting the measurements of St. John’s as “musical proportions” based on Leon Battista Alberti’s theories. Cassar certainly contributed in many ways to the development of Malta’s architecture, and he also influenced many of his followers. But one should always keep in mind that Cassar was neither trained in Classical architecture (which is the basis of Renaissance design), nor did he know the architectural rules that he was supposed to break when applying the Mannerist style.

Therefore, Cassar was merely able to copy certain architectural elements – without actually understanding them – that he had seen on his study tour to Italy, and he applied them in a different way than his Italian contemporaries. Nevertheless, his ecclesiastical buildings must have been a hallmark to Valletta’s architectural landscape. It is somehow sad that due to all these later modifications and alterations none of his buildings survived in its original state, and – with the exception of the Augustinian church in Rabat and St. John’s Co-Cathedral – it is impossible to figure out how Cassar’s churches had originally looked like.