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16 November 1908 — San Antonio Palace, Malta | |
Monday. 16th [November 1908]. We drove into Valletta to St John’s church there we had the luck to find the big tapestries all up having been brought out for the Jubilee—otherwise they are only used once a year & that in the summer so that few people ever see them. Col Biancardi met us at the church door & did show man. Tho the decoration of the church are of latish date & rather florid the whole effect is good as been extraordinarily complete. A great deal of money had been lavished on the church & there are some fine chapels & interesting monuments of the Knights of St John. An old Dean of the church of St Paul at Notabile came to lunch here and afterwards accompanied us in the motor to Notabile & showed us all the treasures in the Ch. of St Paul’s. There are still many valuable tiaras & vestments left from those plundered by Napoleon, & the book is there preserved in wh is the inventory with coloured representations of those he took & wh were all lost in the ship at Aboukir Bay. The old Dean enjoyed showing all the beauties & treasures of his Church wh is a fine building but has been over decorated as are all the churches here—of a late date. The poor old Dean spoke English with some difficulty & and made our progress slow. He showed us the rooms attached to the church in wh the things are kept & where a kind of Museum is being formed of prints coins &c– On leaving him we started off for a motor drive to Sliema to see the sea where the waves were being driven on the coast by the high wind, but we got into bad roads & had to give up & drive back to S. Antonio. | |
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