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Contents |
Day 1 |
Day 2 |
Day 3 |
Day 4 |
Day 5 |
Day 6 |
Day 7 |
Malta - Day ThreeSt. Paul's Cathedral and Museum |
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St. Paul's Cathedral was another fine example of all the stylings and features that mark the Maltese Baroque. Ornate to the borders of gaudy, it is still said to be more restrained than the Italian Baroque. I can only assume that the restraint is in the paintings themselves and, admittedly, they were not among the more spectacular brushwork that I have seen. But they were still much more attractive than the paintings I see on the ceiling at work or at home, so they were worth some examination. And the chapels that sprang off the barrel-vaulted nave were quite attractive, if not spectacular. But the star of the show was, once again, the finely crafted marble of the tombstone-covered floor. I should note at this point another of the remarkable features of Maltese churches that only occurred to me after we had returned home. It was one of those things that did not particularly strike my imagination at the time, but now it seems quite fascinating. That is the utter lack of any pews in Maltese churches. Instead, people were given chairs. This may not seem all that remarkable, but you must also consider the significant size of these cathedrals. These could hold probably a thousand people or more and they all had to be put somewhere. Where most churches had long rows of very inexpensive benches, the Maltese churches had to purchase a great many chairs if they wished to provide seats for everyone. Having said that, one is inclined to question just whether every Maltese laborer was given a chair to sit in for Sunday services. They could have only provided chairs for the knights acting as the local gentry. Or maybe everyone brought their own seating implement. Or maybe the lower classes just had to stand for the duration. |
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I can think of a lot of different ways that seating the masses for the Masses could be done, but I can't even begin to guess the real answer. I rather wonder if there is much record of the seating arrangements, since something that mundane might not have ever been considered to be worth noting. I'm sure historians have spent time studying this, but probably only because all the good study topics were already taken. On to the MuseumFrom St. Paul's Cathedral, it was on to the St. Paul's Cathedral Museum, which was pretty nice, overall. It was not large, but it was extensive. After heading up the stairs, we found ourselves going from room to room in a surprisingly expansive area always seemed to have another offshoot into a new area. You got used to doubling back to catch something you missed. |
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It was an interesting, if scattered collection of oddments that included old woodwork from St. Paul's church, liturgical vestments, coins from ancient Egypt to modernity, woodcuts and copperplates by Albrecht Dürer, manuscripts of Maltese choral music, illuminated manuscripts of church music, paintings from various masters and not-quite-as-masterly masters, and contemporary wood carvings from some dude I've never heard of. Overall, it was an impressive collection and, one must assume, the museum attempted to gather as much as possible into its collection. There simply isn't much museum space inside the walls of Mdina, so it seems that they need to get everything they can into one spot. The problem was that there was so much to see in the museum that we probably spent too much time there. Afternoon was well under way when we departed the museum and we were getting hungry. So we so we wound our way through the Mdina maze and discovered ourselves at a nice little restaurant that turned out to be rather large restaurant behind its little restaurant façade. Mdina is full of surprises. |
On the Topic of LunchComing through the front door, the first thing you are struck by is the fact that you are not inside but, rather, in a relatively large outdoor dining area. However, because it was beginning to rain, we decided that it was a good idea to head for the roofed portion of the restaurant and we discovered a pleasant little table for two by a window. The window, interestingly, was looking out on another outdoor dining area located in the rear of the building. It seems that the Maltese expect good weather and are more than happy to enjoy it over lunch. Unfortunately, the Maltese were to be disappointed this day, because it started raining fairly hard. And blowing really hard. And the wind was slamming some door in the bathroom over and over again, which was really ruining the meal. The restaurant itself was interesting, in that it may have been hint as to what the houses in Mdina might have been like. It was a multi-roomed area with plenty of nooks and crannies sprouting out in several directions. There was a lot of area in total, but no particular room was all that large. There was much to explore going room to room, but no room would require all that much exploration on its own. Which was about what I would expect from the so-called Silent City that was once home to much of Malta's aristocracy. By the way, it should be noted that my well-documented superpower of being able to clear out an area with nothing but my presence is also effective in Malta. Full restaurant when we came in. Empty restaurant by the time we were midway through lunch. But this turned out to be a great opportunity for Chris, because it meant that the cat in the restaurant had no one to visit but her. So the cat jumped right in her lap and helped her examine her guidebook. I would also like to add that the rabbit was delicious but very bony. I don't recommend eating rabbit on a first date, you'll be picking small bones out of your mouth all night. We completed our meal and, after exiting the restaurant in time to see ancient Maltese drainage methods in action (there weren't any), we headed out another of Mdina's city gates and into Rabat for more churches. |
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