The story of St. John's Co-Cathedral

From outside, this church looks almost like a fortress: a plain, austere façade between two large bell towers, reflecting both its architect Girolamo Cassar's style as a military engineer and the Order's mood after the Great Siege of 1565. Step inside, and everything changes. The Order of St. John built the church between 1573 and 1578, and from the 1660s Grand Master Raphael Cotoner had its interior redecorated to rival the churches of Rome. The Calabrian artist Mattia Preti transformed it in the Baroque style, designing the carved stone walls and painting the vaulted ceiling with scenes from the life of John the Baptist.

Look at the figures beside each column: they seem like statues, but they are painted illusions created with shadow. Beneath your feet, the whole marble floor is a series of tombs of about 400 Knights and officers. From the balcony above the door, the Grand Master once addressed the people.

In 1831 Sir Walter Scott called this the most striking interior he had ever seen.