The long-held belief that many knights lie buried beneath the floor of St John's Co-Cathedral is mostly folklore, a researcher has discovered. 

A two-year study by researcher Sebastian d'Amico of what sits beneath the Co-Cathedral's floors and tombstones identified three burial sites within the church.

Starting in July 2015, Dr d'Amico and his research team scanned the entire Co-Cathedral using a ground-penetrating radar system. 

The team took more than 11,000 photos to enable a three-dimensional reconstruction of the Co-Cathedral area, with computers crunching data for almost 500 hours for 3D processing. 

Through this method, researchers were able to create digital model of burial sites within the church, discovering that tombstones at the Co-Cathedral are not laid out in a corresponding continuation. 

In the 1840s the tombstones were rearranged to form a more symmetrical pattern, Dr d’Amico explained.

“Moreover, the tombs in general do not have the same size or the same depth,” Dr d'Amico said, adding that the positions of the tombs coincide with those of the upper-lying inscriptions.

University researchers to get improved access to Co-Cathedral

The Co-Cathedral will now be easier for University of Malta researchers to access, thanks to a memorandum of understanding signed on Wednesday between the St John Co-Catherral foundation and the University of Malta.

St John Co-Cathedral foundation president Wilfrid Buttigieg said this was a historic moment, and that time will show how valuable the signing of the memorandum of understanding truly was.

The MoU seeks to facilitate access to research in St John’s Co-Cathedral, by creating a structure that encourages use of the Co-Cathedral as a research site and hub for University of Malta researchers.

Currently, researchers looking to study the cathedral have no formal structure to guide them into obtaining access,Mr Buttigieg said. The MoU seeks to create a council that assesses research proposals and guides researchers accordingly, he added.

The Co-Cathedral can provide research for various areas of study, including history, archaeology and conservation studies.

Mr Buttigieg said that the St.John’s Co-Cathedral foundation was now looking to start talks for similar agreements with Mcast and Heritage Malta.

MoU talks have been ongoing for two years, University of Malta Rector Alfred Vella said, adding that the rich cultural heritage in the cathedral merited research and insight.

We need to exploit this asset so that our students and researchers can learn more about the cathedral, he said.

Culture minister Owen Bonnici thanked the foundation and said the government sought to bring the community and the cathedral closer together.

One part of this was an open day which gave people access to certain areas of the cathedral that they normally do not have access to, Dr Bonnici said.

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