Grandmasters and Inquisitors

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Hello my fellow travellers!

So, me and Marcus decided yesterday to go to the two temples at Mgarr, the Skorba and the Ta' Hagrat. As we sat on the bus going there, all of a sudden this huge, gorgeous church came before us and I immediately pulled up my map to see if I could figure out where we were. Turns out we passed through Mosta and that it was the Church of the Assumption of Our Lady. I told Marcus straight away that we'd stop there on the way back and Marcus agreed.

When we came to Mgarr we first went to the Mgarr Parish Church to learn about where we could find the temples and a lovely lady told us how to get to the first one. She also told us that there is a festival that will soon be held in honor of Saint Mary (it will unfortunately be held after we've left) but that's why Victoria and Mosta are both so highly decorated now.

Anyway, we made our way to the Ta' Hagrat Temple but it was closed even though it was supposed to be open. The site didn't seem that big though so we just looked at it from the outside as best we could before we tried to find our way to Skorba Temple. This one is a bit tricky to find as it's located out in a field so we had to ask for directions a few times before we managed to get there. That site was also closed, but on this one it really didn't matter, the site is very small and you can see it just fine from the outside. We decided not to go back to see if Ta' Hagrat had opened but rather go to Mosta instead.

So, after our tour of the less than exciting temples at Mgarr we hopped on the bus back to Mosta to visit the church. Wow, it is very impressive, you can see that the architect was inspired by the pantheon in Rome! This is actually one of the largest Dome Churches in the world. In 1942 a bomb pierced the roof of this church and landed amongst the people praying there, luckily it didn't explode. People here call it the bomb miracle. I don't believe in that kind of things but it's still pretty cool and very fortunate that this place wasn't more badly damaged.

Next we took the bus back into Valletta to visit the crown jewel, the Saint Johns Co-Cathedral. It is beyond words to be honest, so magnificent! Despite it's very modest exterior the interior is, well, divine! You are given a very good audio tour that's included in the 6 EUR entrance fee, use it because you learn so much about this wonderful place! Every part of the cathedral is lined with exquisite paintings, some of them telling stories that span over several paintings combined. Me and Marcus spent several hours in here and I suggest you do the same if given the opportunity to visit here because this place is wonderful, everywhere you look you find new pieces of art that will blow your mind. Make sure that you go into the oratory as well to see Carvaggio's masterpiece, the Beheading of Saint John the Baptist. Also make certain to visit the adjacent museum to see the impressive tapestries and the fascinating Coral Books.

After picking our chins up from the floor we went up to the lovely Lower Barrakka Gardens and sat down for a while. It's very beautiful but unfortunately the fountain seemed to have some kind of pressure problem and made some strange noises. Because of that it wasn't the relaxing place that it should be.

When we felt rested enough we made our way over to Birgu, also known as Vittoriosa, where we first visited the Malta Maritime Museum which isn't really very spectacular, it's large and housed in a the former building of the Knights of Saint John's treasury but it doesn't really house many artefacts (although they do have a torpedo that has actually seen action which is a nice touch).

After our salty tour in the harbour we went to the old Inquisitors Palace which is really cool! It's complete with both the judicial room where questioning was performed and sentencing was given. Below that area lies the old torture chamber for the harder cases, right next to the old prison cells, one part for males and another for females of course. Between them was a small court for the prisoners, complete with a circular well which served as their public toilet! You can actually see the damage on the wall made from the acids in the faeces, it's cool in a gross kind of way. I guess I'm still a boy inside a grown body (well, the belly at least).

We decided (or rather I forced the decision upon Marcus when causing us to miss our bus) to finally go and visit Saint Publius's Church which we've passed several times during our stay here. It's quite beautiful inside and here we met a nice local man named Frans whom we talked to for a while about a lot of different religious things. Well, he talked and we tried to listen.

Tomorrow we'll visit the temples of Hagar Qim and Mnajdra and since we have to go through Rabat we've also decided to visit Saint Agatha's Crypt.

Until tomorrow I wish you all peace and happy travels!

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Comments

[Dancing Dave]

Incredible
The churches and museums are truly incredible Per-Olof. St John's Co-Cathedral is staggeringly ornate.

[A Small Swede in the Big World]

Incredible
Aye, Saint John's Co-Cathedral is beyond words, the modest exterior did ill prepare me for the grandeur that would face me inside. :)