St John’s Co-Cathedral is the first stop for most visitors. Museums provide a learning experience, which can be enhanced or undermined by the quality of services provided.

As the number of visitors to Malta has increased over the past years, the Co-Cathedral’s popularity has augmented, revealing a number of issues relating to the ease and safe circulation of visitors, especially through the museum.

The proposed museum extension addresses some of these issues by relocating the famous Flemish tapestries to a new purpose-built exhibition centre.

At present, access to the Tapestry Chamber is chaotic because visitors are being channelled through a narrow passage (Maltese wooden balcony), creating one of the most awkward bottlenecks in the museum, as visitors are forced to double back on themselves.

Visitors are being pressurised into moving continuously to make space for others, hence not being allowed enough time to appreciate artefacts. The route is further complicated as it does not cater for visitors of all abilities. The proposed extension will ease some of the more congested areas within the museum and will vastly improve access.

Furthermore, the proposed project is designed to enhance the effective safekeeping of the museum’s collection. Adequate security and environmental conditions, namely the control of pollution, illumination, temperature and humidity, are vital for the preservation of the museum collections.

While the core of a great museum must be a great collection of works of art, it is the audience experience that unites people with the works of art, brings a collection to life and gives the museum, as an institution for the bene-fit of the public, its meaning.

Visitors are the ‘lifeblood of any museum exhibition’, and St John’s Co-Cathedral Foundation needs to create a special exhibition gallery suitable for the 21st century.