Contrary to what its popular name may suggest, Wignacourt college Museum at Rabat, Malta is not a collection of items once belonging to the late Grandmaster or illustrating his career but a museum with abundant works of art, located in the former Convento of an institution founded by Grandmaster Aloph de Wignacourt in 1619 under the title of Fondazione Wignacourt. An inscription in Latin on the main door of the building reads (in translation) “College of Brother Chaplains of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem founded by Grandmaster Fra Aloph de Wignacourt on 1 February 1619”.

The person who originated the institution, however, more than a decade before Grandmaster Aloph de Wignacourt was invited and accepted to take over – its real founder – was a Spanish hermit Juan Benegas de Cordova who started to call himself Fra Giovanni di Santo Paolo,

In 1646, architect Franceso Buonamici was entrusted to enlarge and modify the Benegas construction providing a refectory, a kitchen, a dispensary, a stable and a store. The building was further enlarged in 1706-8 on plans by architect Salvu Borg of Siggiewi and again in 1747-9 on plans by Petruzzo Debono. These architects transformed the original modest construction into a fine baroque palace with three large gardens, a beautiful chapel and works of art in the spacious corridors, including a series of extra large canvases depicting the Saints of the Order and smaller canvases with portraits of the Grandmasters.

The institution, efficiently administered by the chaplains flourished until 1798 notwithstanding a subtle attempt to undermine it in 1637 which was repulsed diplomatically but firmly. When the Order of St John was expelled in 1798 the premises were retained by the chaplains of the Order and the diocesan clergy who succeeded them and who strongly resisted further attempts to cede the premises for a different use. The clergy continued to officiate St Paul’s Grotto, the overstanding Church of St. Publius and the Chapel of the Shipwreck at St Paul’s Bay which also formed part of the Wignacourt foundation but the administration of the Foundation was taken over by government. A final settlement between Church and State was only reached on 17 April 1961 in a deed of transfer, in acts of notary V. Miller, the diocese assuming the property of the Churches and the Collegio and government taking over the other immovable property against an annual payment of Lm1,000. Archbishop Michael Gonzi soon rejoined the Grotto to the Parish Church, undoing what Benegas had done on 1608, and elevated the new complex to the status of a canonical Collegiate Chapter, with the financial support of an inheritance of the late Notary Francesco Catania who instituted St Paul’s Parish Church as his universal heir.

During World War II the building was adapted as a hospital, a centre for refugees and a Victory Kitchen. Later it was used as a Government Primary School and a centre for religious and civic associations. In 1976 and following years it temporarily housed an incipient Benedictine Community with Dom Angelo Mifsud OSB as abbot. On 24 June 1981 the building was officially opened, by the late Dr John A. Cauchi, as a museum, thus fulfilling one of the clauses in the 1961 deed of transfer “to preserve and take proper care of all the objects of an artistic and historical value existing in the aforesaid Collegio, Grotto and Church, which objects shall be always accessible to public view”.

Not that all exhibits in the Museum come from the Collegio, Grotto and Church. Many in fact come from the adjacent St Paul’s Parish Church, others come from filial chapels in the Rabat area while other exhibits were presented by individual donors – the most important of such donors being Notary Francesco Catania (1872-1960), a keen collector of works of art and archaeology.

In the limited space available we shall limit ourselves to describing the more important exhibits, grouping them by category and theme; the more so as a detailed catalogue of the Museum with contributions by various scholars was published on the occasion of Pope John Paul II’s official visit to St. Paul’s Grotto on 27 May 1990 and before that a brief guide had been published by the present writer in 1987.

The museum – the old Convento – consists of a ground floor and a main floor with an inner courtyard leading to the old Rector’s quarters, which also has a garden leading to St Paul’s Catacombs. Up to the late 19th century the only access to these catacombs was from the Collegio’s garden and from there Lord Nelson on 1 May 1800, having toured the Grotto and the Collegio, was led by rector Ludovico Savoye to visit the Catacombs. The old kitchen and refectory on one side and all rooms on the opposite side at ground floor level led to two spacious gardens – only that the largest of the two was in the early 20th century requisitioned for two government schools with their two playgrounds.

At ground level are also two underground passages, hewn in live rock. One, planned by architect Lorenzo Gafà in 1860, leads to St. Paul’s Grotto whereas the other leads to a cistern in a catacombal area with three visible rock cut chambers. Beneath the now dried cistern, in World War II a huge shelter with no less than 45 chambers was dug and accommodated hundreds of people. This shelter is nowadays one of the Museum’s attractions.

Displayed in the eleven rooms, chapel and spacious corridor (or else Main Hall) of the Museum at first floor level are over 150 paintings, several sculptures, ecclesiastical furniture, an archaeological collection, embroidered vestments and also a number of drawings and watercolours, maps, books and coins.

The best pictures are displayed at eye level in rooms 1 to 4, whereas paintings of a mere decorative value are exhibited at a higher level in the main corridor.

(The museum opens daily from Monday to Saturday from 10am to 3pm)

An author and scholar, Mgr John Azzopardi is the curator of the Wignacourt College Museum, Rabat.

This article first appeared in the Easter 1998 issue of Treasures of Malta,which is published by Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti. Treasures of Malta is a magazine about art and culture which is published three times a year, and is available from all leading bookshops.