The museum of St John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta is to be extended to provide a proper showcase for its priceless collections and artefacts.

Lack of space currently prevents the important pieces from being displayed in the right environment. The project will allow visitors to appreciate the entire collection of 29 Flemish Tapestries in a single hall, whereas at present they are dispersed in different rooms.

A Caravaggio Centre will focus on the life and works of the most celebrated artist of the Baroque era, whose most prestigious painting, The Beheading of St John, graces the Oratory. The extended museum will also house sacred vestments, the silver collection, illuminated manuscripts and the Cappella Ardente.

Details of the project were announced yesterday by the St John’s Co-Cathedral Foundation, which gave an assurance that it would have no direct impact on the cathedral.

The extension will be designed to allow the museum to have flexible opening hours, better accessibility and improved facilities for visitors.

Also, new conservation technology will be employed for the preservation of the artefacts. In 2009, a controversial plan for an EU-funded project to extend the museum underground was shelved following public concerns about potential structural damage to the cathedral.