Two Flemish from the unique set of 29 at St John's Co-Cathedral Museum have been shipped for restoration to the De Witt Royal Manufacturers of Tapestries laboratories in Belgium.
The tapestries, The Last Supper and The Crucifixion, are being restored on the initiative of the St John's Co-Cathedral Foundation as part of its conservation plan.
The tapestries depicting The Triumph of Faith and Time Unveiling Truth were returned to Malta following a year-long restoration intervention in Belgium.
This restoration project is being carried out with the assistance of the Belgian government through the provision of special air transport, with the co-operation of the Belgian Ministry of Defence and the Belgian ambassador to Jean Francois Delahaut.
The return of The Triumph of Faith and Time Unveiling Truth brought the total number of tapestries restored in this project to six, continuing the restoration effort which began in 2006 when two tapestries The Triumph of the Catholic Church and The Portrait of Grand Master Perellos were sent to Belgium.
Upon their completion and return a further two tapestries were sent namely The Triumph of Charity, the restoration of which was sponsored by the King Baudouin Foundation in Belgium, and The Institution of Corpus Christi.
The restoration of the entire set of tapestries is projected to last at least eight years and cost in the region of €1 million.
The set of tapestries was ordered from the Brussels atelier of Judocus de Vos, renowned as Court weaver to Louis the XIV and was based on cartoons created by Peter Paul Rubens with the exception of The Last Supper, which was based on a painting of the same subject produced by Nicolas Poussin.
This collection was the gift or gioia presented to the CoCathedral by the Aragonese Grand Master Ramon Perellos y Roccaful upon his election as Grand Master in 1697. It is documented that by 1702 the tapestries had already reached Malta.
Lack or appropriate space and lighting within the CoCathedral museum does not allow the foundation to display the whole set of tapestries for the full appreciation and enjoyment of the general public and the tourists.