Vindication of the Knights of St. John

Well, Malta turned out to be really nice. Time constraints did not allow me to visit the Neolithic sites or the catacombs, but I got about 3 full hours in Valletta. On a business trip, that is a lifetime. On Wednesday, it held off raining just long enough for me to do a walkabout. It was cloudy, very windy (think tropical storm winds), and there were puddles everywhere. Nonetheless, I struck out on foot and finally got to see much of the city. It is fairly touristy in terms of the restaurants and shops, but when you get off the main streets, there are a numnber of nice local eateries.

There are a lot of churches and old fortifications and even a beautiful bell tower that is a monument to the folks who lost their lives during the second world war. I wanted to get into the Church of St. John, but the other visitors were obnoxious and kept pushing past me in line until the line was too long for my time line. I must say, I was a bit stunned.

Nonetheless, all was not lost. I took my lunch hour (actually the conference let us have 105 min) and went back - no lines. The tour, self guided, was of the most beautiful church I have ever seen. Art, design, everything, was absolutely amazing. The floor is covered with gravestones with the most colorful designs. Each of the eight knights has a chapel room on either side of the main sanctuary and each had to donate all of the statuary, gold sacraments, paintings, etc for each chapel. The front of the sanctuary has beautiful organ pipes, a golden falcon and a very intricate silver chandalier. Off in side rooms are Flemish tapestries typically 3 x 3 meters. There are ancient choral books and vestments for all of the masters of the knights who led the church for so many years. The order is still active; I believe it is http://www.orderstjohns.org/ or com or the like.

Our group had a reception that night at the hall of the Knights of St. John. It was actually a three level hospital that they built (top floor for wealthy, middle for artesans, bottom for poor) as part of their dedication to service. For its time, it was quite modern with individual beds and essentially private duty nurses. That was very rare for a ward-type hospital. It did seem wierd to have light cocktails and finger foods in what was once a hospital.

Malta turned out very nice. The locals are friendly (the tourists are not) and very helpful and so polite.