Page 37
‘I do know this was the ambition of its original engineer, Girolamo Cassar. He intended it to be austere – do you know this word?’
She looked at him blankly, shaking her head.
‘It means sombre, intimidating, and that seemed to echo the feeling of the Order of St John, the Knights Hospitaller, after the Great Siege. It’s hard to work it out from the exterior but the rectangle shape of the church is buttressed by two belltowers that have octagonal-shaped spires.’
She loved listening to his voice, especially when he spoke so passionately. She followed his gaze upwards to the vaulted ceiling.
‘This is a barrel vault over a lovely, wide nave. I think it’s incredible, Valentina, and although it was not originally as decorative, I have to say I’ve never seen anything quite like it in my lifetime of visiting churches and cathedrals.’
She glanced at him. ‘Really? Aren’t all cathedrals like this?’
He gave a soft scoff. ‘No, my dear Valentina, they are not. In England they’re magnificent, but they’re mostly in the style of what we call Gothic. Have you heard this word?’
She nodded, immediately interested. ‘I don’t really understand it fully, though.’
‘The style began around the late twelfth century. It has evolved, developing over the course of centuries, but the influence was French – you know, pointed arches and flying buttresses, vaults ribbed like the inside of a huge creature and, of course, lots of lovely stained glass.’
She was intently focused. ‘How do you describe this cathedral?’
‘In style? They refer to this as Mannerist. In truth, it actually just follows the style of the architect’s other buildings. Cassar was influential in Valletta. Outside, with its plain, rather bulky exterior, you couldn’t possibly imagine this incredible assault on the senses within, could you?’
She smiled. Some of his words were going over her head, but she could hear his delight. As he spoke, she’d been taking in the space, which was decorated from the marble floor she stood on to the furthest reaches of the ceiling she had to crane her neck to view. Every inch seemed to be painted or tiled with stone, touched with gold, or marbled.
‘As I mentioned, originally it was much less ornate inside,’ he continued. ‘Quite modest in fact. But in the middle of the sixteen-hundreds, Grand Master Raphael Cotoner – I’m sure you have heard of him through your knowledge of the Knights Hospitaller?’
‘I have,’ she said, pleased to please him, all her former sulkiness gone.
He smiled. ‘Well, he ordered this cathedral to have a redecorated interior, demanding that it be so ornate as to rival the great churches anywhere, especially Rome.’ He increased the drama in his tone as he said this, making her laugh. ‘And so it was. Completely transformed. And this style that you see here,’ he said, gesturing with his bad arm, grimacing slightly, ‘we call Baroque. It’s so ornate, so… so…’
‘Full of dramatic effect?’ she offered.
‘Yes! Exactly! It’s so dramatic that it can be overwhelming at times. It hits your emotions,’ he said, pounding at his heart with the sling, to make her smile wider. ‘This is where you feel it when you look at it. The idea is to convey a sense of size and power, of grandeur and awe. This cathedral comes up and smacks you in the face with all of that.’
Valentina giggled, then immediately caught herself; she should not be showing such disrespect in church. She could imagine her mother’s face. But here with Peter, she could be freer, especially now they seemed to have shaken off the awkwardness of earlier. ‘And do you feel it, Peter?’
‘Of course.’
As he closed his eyes momentarily, she admired his golden lashes once more, conscious of the double meaning in her question and aware that he hadn’t caught it. It didn’t matter.
‘Look at all this opulence and colour,’ he exclaimed.
‘Oppu…?’ she frowned, unable to guess at the word’s meaning.
‘Opulence,’ he repeated. ‘It means deliberately demonstrating wealth and luxury.’
‘Showing off?’
‘Indeed. That’s the right way to say it. The Grand Master was showing off, not only his own status but the power and riches and longevity of the Knights Hospitaller. A force to be reckoned with, and a powerful belief in their Roman Catholic religious roots to care for the poor and needy, and to defend the Holy Land.’
She wrapped her arms around herself. ‘I love them.’
‘I know you do. So you should defend them, keep protecting their memory.’
‘How?’
‘By finding a way to continue your studies and donate your time and efforts to this great city of yours… its architecture and artworks. They’re priceless. The Order lives on through what they’ve left behind, but it needs caring for or it will disappear.’
‘I don’t know how to do that.’
