St John's Co-Cathedral Museum has been closed for extension and refurbishment works.

The works are being managed by the St John’s Co-Cathedral Foundation and will be carried out in phases over three years to enable display of all the foundation's collections.

These include the 29 Flemish tapestries, the sacred vestments, the silver collection, the illuminated manuscripts, and the Cappella Ardente.

A Caravaggio Centre is also planned to focus and highlight the works of one of the most celebrated artists of the baroque era, including his most prestigious painting, The Beheading of St John, which will remain in the oratory.

A new and spacious entrance will be located in Merchants Street and will provide easy accessibility for the physically challenged and comfortable facilities for the visitors.

The Tapestry Chamber, which is still to be constructed, will house together the one-of-a-kind set of tapestries, which presently are dispersed in several rooms. The Chamber will have appropriate lighting, climate control, and reading areas where one can admire the sheer enormity of the collection.

The Vestments Hall will form part of the original carapecchia intended as a room were the Grand Masters used to dress in their sacred robes appropriate for the occasion. It will house the collections donated by various Grand Masters as gioia to St John’s Co-Cathedral then their conventual church.

The Silver Vaults will contain various religious monstrances and silver artefacts currently not being displayed anywhere in the current layout of the museum.

The extension will have no direct impact on the church, designed is such a way that will allow flexible opening hours of the museum. Thus, priceless collections will be exhibited as well as conserved for future generations to appreciate.