'Well-intentioned' damage to St John's

Mgr Philip Calleja insists that the St John's Co-Cathedral Foundation would never take risks that would involve any apparent or real damage to the Co-Cathedral itself or to historical adjacent buildings.

During my recent visit to Malta I was lucky enough to be able to visit St John's. During my tour around the Co-Cathedral I observed significant damage caused by damp to both the outside stonework and the corresponding painted walls inside.

I was informed that this damage was caused when a former curator decided to paint the dado in oil-based paint. Since oil-based paint is not porous, the stonework was unable to breathe. This resulted in the damp being trapped inside where it kept rising until it was above the level of the dado where the damp 'erupted', causing great damage to the wall carvings.

Another well intentioned but damaging initiative was taken by Giuseppe Hyzler, a follower of the neo-classical trend, embodied in the so-called Nazarener movement. He had an obvious dislike of Baroque and had he had his way would have turned St John's into a neo-classical temple.

One of his more radical deeds was to organise a total and drastic overhaul of the floor of St John's. By 1833 Hyzler had completed this exercise, changing the arrangement of the tombstones from chronological to symmetrical. He then went on to strip the gloria behind the altar of its gilt, totally ruining its effect, which was only recently restored.

Returning to the present day I recall reading in the papers that the foundation officials authorised in a tender the use of water-pressure jets on the roof of the Cathedral which carries with it very serious risks of causing micro-cracks which would leak water into the beautiful painted ceilings. I also noticed during my tour that the room containing the hanging tapestries had two types of fire extinguisher on the wall. One of these was a Co2 extinguisher but the other was foam.

Foam extinguishers are primarily used to fight oil fires so I can't understand why such an extinguisher should be selected for use in this room.

The chemicals used in a foam extinguisher would damage the tapestries as much as a fire would!

As may be seen from all the examples from the past, all of these highly damaging actions were carried out by well-meaning people entrusted with the care of St John's.

All, like Mgr Calleja, would have insisted that they would never take risks which could in any way cause damage to the Co-Cathedral. With hindsight we know different. Let us not go down that road again.