Cynthia De Giorgio has been curator of St John's Co-Cathedral for two years now but her awe and amazement at its wealth of treasures has nowhere near waned. She tells Fiona Galea Debono about Caravaggio's pulling power, which helps in the fundamental aim of attracting the man in the street.
The St John's Co-Cathedral Foundation plans to entirely refurbish its museum and expand it, a project that is scheduled to start next year, Ms de Giorgio says.
"Before you think of exhibitions and shows, you have to get your house in order, which is what the foundation has been doing. It looked at what needed immediate attention."
While 2007 has been largely dedicated to Caravaggio, being the 400th anniversary of his stay in Malta, other projects are still in the pipeline. Among them is the crypt of the Grand Masters - the Courtauld Institute of Art in London is monitoring its environmental conditions to be able to advise the foundation.
Ms de Giorgio traversed the aisles of the co-cathedral for two years now, but remains in awe of its innumerable treasures. The crypt, for example, is home to the first 12 Grand Masters of the Order of the Knights of St John in Malta, including l'Isle Adam, de Verdale, la Valette and la Cassiere.
Not everyone may be aware of that and the crypt could be considered the most important part of the co-cathedral.
The fact that not everyone may know is, indeed, the foundation's major challenge. Its role is to present its works of art as the heritage of the Maltese and of mankind, Ms de Giorgio explains. "We are the caretakers and with that comes a duty not only to safeguard, conserve and restore the works, but also to expose them in the right manner to the public.
"You should not have to be an art historian, nor an art lover, to be able to enter St John's and learn something about Caravaggio. We want to reach everybody."
And, of course, "Caravaggio is Caravaggio!" The artist is responsible for bringing to St John's visitors who may not have bothered to go. They may not be that interested in art history and Maltese artistic heritage but when they visit the co-cathedral, their curiosity is aroused.
"This is what we are so delighted to be achieving - more awareness among the man in the street!"
This is also why the foundation took the initiative to hold the exhibition, Caravaggio And Paintings Of Realism In Malta, which goes on until December 16.
"The idea is to raise more awareness, study and discovery on Caravaggism in Malta. As yet, it is not given due attention," Ms de Giorgio maintains.
Her passion for the painter and her pride in the fact that his works adorn the oratory are palpable. In fact, the subject constantly veers to the artist...
"Within the last few years, Caravaggio has become a superstar - if you want to put it in modern terminology. He is the equivalent of Brad Pitt and, rightly so, because he is unequalled!
"The fact that we know something about his character and because he is said to have been eccentric... is what makes him human... and thus so popular."
If the foundation's challenge is to promote Caravaggio in Malta, Ms de Giorgio is playing her part. When his Portrait of a Knight arrived from Italy after a 400-year absence earlier in the week, she was falling over herself and continued to refer to it as the return of a "long-lost boyfriend" - more "human" than that it cannot be!
"No one can compete with Caravaggio - he speaks for himself," she states.
The exhibition includes the works of Caravaggists, who "may have been Italian, but we do know that they worked in Malta and that there was continuous traffic with Sicily. There was more influence than we realise, evidenced in the national collections, with many works of art in private collections," she says.
The fact that the exhibition includes these paintings means the reserved and weary attitude of private collectors has been broken through, she adds.
What makes St John's so unique is that it is home to so many treasures from completely different eras and of different types. But that also renders the task at hand eternal, particularly because over the last 200 years it had been relegated to the backburner. Governments had other priorities but now that Malta has advanced so much over the last 20 years, things have changed, notes Ms de Giorgio.
"It is obvious that if you have a leaking roof, you worry about that and not about a picture that has flaking paint. When your house is in order, you then have more time and revenue to concentrate on art."
Now, growing cultural awareness - and cultural tourism - is pressing on the accelerator and the demand is being felt. Practically half the tourists that visit Malta visit St John's, and most have heard about it before they arrive, Ms de Giorgio estimates.
Pride in national heritage is growing, thanks also to the government's efforts to raise awareness and to put its money where its mouth is, she believes.
Today, the foundation is spending millions on the co-cathedral. A conservative Lm215,000 (€500,000) a year are spent on its restoration alone, plus more to come... "When we start works on the museum, we'll probably be bankrupt," she laughs.
The restoration of the triumphal arches, for example, is costing Lm215,000 (€500,00) to be cleaned and each one is consuming Lm4,300 (€10,000) of gold over and above that.
Being a church, charging an entrance fee (Lm2.50/€5.80, "which is not a lot of money") is often criticised. "But it is not just a church anymore, it is a monument of international renown," she justifies.
If Ms de Giorgio had a bottomless pit of resources, "the sky would be the limit!"
Coming back down to earth, she would be content with seeing the projects initiated in her time concluded but that would mean living another 50 years, at least.
Her dream project would be to see the tapestry collection restoration through. It has been established that the unique set is the largest and only collection of its size - 29 pieces. Two have already been restored and the foundation has embarked on a programme to restore the rest. Another two are packed and ready to leave for Brussels and two are undergoing restoration. Ms de Giorgio would have to stick around for another eight years to see the €1 million project come to fruition.
Commissioned by Grand Master Perellos and dating back to 1703, the tapestries are in desperate need of restoration.
The role of the new museum would be to display the tapestry set together, she anticipates.
But artistic heritage is not just tapestries, paintings and Caravaggio. It is also ritual and tradition, and they need to be kept alive and protected. So is music a part of it, she says, referring to the recent performance by world-renowned conductor Riccardo Muti in the co-cathedral. These events help to raise the profile of Malta in general and draw in the man in the street.
In keeping with this aim, a three-day organ music festival, using the unique old organ in the oratory for the first time since the 17th century, will be held from Tuesday to Thursday. The organ stopped working 400 years ago and the Knights ordered a replacement, which was put in the sanctuary. The old one was left to rot away and the only other survivor from the late 16th century is in Cefalù, Sicily.
It has been totally restored, with its entire mechanism being sent over to Padova and an expert will be coming over to tune it and make sure it is in the right working condition.
"Those who attend the concert will not only be surrounded by two Caravaggios, but three, and they would also be able to enjoy the same environment of his time - the organ was functional then and the organist was his friend."
During Notte Bianca last weekend, St John's welcomed 4,000 visitors while it was open to the public between 7 p.m. and 11 - way beyond the 1,000 expected.
It is estimated that about half of them were locals - again in keeping with the aim of attracting the Maltese and "allowing them to identify with the place as part of their heritage".