St. John's Co-Cathedral 

St John’s Co-Cathedral is a gem of Baroque art and architecture.   It was built as the temple of the Knights of St John. 

The Grand Masters and several knights donated gifts of high artistic value and made enormous contributions to enrich it with only the best works of art. This church is till this very day an important shrine and a sacred place of worship.  It is also a venue for cultural events. 

Commissioned in 1572 by Grand Master Jean de la Cassière as the conventual church of the Order of the Knights Hospitaller of St John, and designed by the celebrated Maltese military architect Gerolamo Cassar, St John’s Co-Cathedral stands as a unique monument of international importance.

Each of the side chapels belonged to the langues. They are variously decorated, but characteristic features are the symbols of the individual langues and the arms of the various Grand Masters. Preti's painting decorates many of the chapels; worth singling out are the St George and the Dragon in the Chapel of Aragon, Catalonia and Navarre and the serene Mystical Marriage of St Catherine in the Chapel of Italy. This latter chapel also contains Caravaggio's painting.

The monuments to the Grand Masters are works of art in their own right, the very finest being the richly decorated marble and bronze mausoleums to Grand Masters Nicolas Cotoner and Ramon Perellos in the Chapel of Aragon, Catalonia and Navarre.

The remains of 12 Grand Masters are buried in the Crypt, mostly in sarcophagi. The only ordinary Knight to have the honour of bering buried here, is Sir Oliver Starkey, English secretary to Grand Master Jean Parisot de La Vallette during the Great Siege.