The ongoing restoration of the chapels in St John’s co-Cathedral, which has turned the former drab interior into a glowing world-class example of High Baroque, will soon be completed. Work on the two remaining chapels – those of the Langue de Provence and the neighbouring one of the Langue de France – including the half-chapel of the Anglo-Bavarian Langue which incorporates the relics of the church – is due to finish by July.

This was stated, almost as an afterthought, by curator Cynthia de Giorgio, who was speaking at the monthly Din l-Art Helwa lecture in Valletta.

Actually, it was a re-presentation of the lecture that had been given at St John’s in December and on which I reported in the 8 December issue of this newspaper (minus the enjoyable video of the last phases of the restoration to the tune of a waltz).

Auvergne is one of the smallest and most inhospitable regions of France, consisting mainly of the Massif Central. Within the Order of St John, its Langue had a rather high standing, maybe because the region itself is on the border of Languedoc, and its Prior was prominent in the Order’s military logistics.

It was, however, one of the smallest Langues in the Order – with just one priory and 51 comanderies as against the seven priories and 115 comanderies in the Langue of Italy.

In Malta, its history was a sad one: while you can still see the Auberge d’Auvergne in Vittoriosa (at one time converted into a private residence), its Auberge in Valletta is one of the three that no longer exist. The Auberge d’Auvergne, an austere Baroque building, was hit by enemy action during World War II and its site was later taken over by today’s classical Law Courts.

Its chapel in St John’s, miraculously, was not so much damaged by the bomb that destroyed the Auberge across the street, as by rain infiltration from the roof and the cupola, and a rather botched restoration in the 19th century that restored gold with the use of silver.

One of the Italian experts from Iconos Restauri, Daniela Murphy Carelle, gave a full description of the work carried out in the restoration.

Langue d’Auvergne Commander Fra Annet de Gessans commissioned Captain Antonio Garsin to install an altar carved of stone. Its next benefactor was the Prior of the Langue, Fra Jean de Foursat, whose coat of arms – a golden fleur-de-lys on a red background – is found in the middle of the ceiling.

During the restoration work, three names were found inscribed or painted in corners of the chapel – probably of the guilder, Antonio Ridolfi, and two Maltese carvers: Domenico Gambin and Pietro Burlò.

The books of the Order reveal that these last two people received 510 scudi to carve the sides of the chapel with various decorative features. That would be something like €100 for six months’ work in today’s prices.

The restorer explained the painstaking processes involved: first to analyse and diagnose the state of the chapel, then to determine how each problem was to be tackled and finally re-gilding process – with gold leaf. The process also included a technique for drawing out the water in the creeping damp that afflicted the lower parts of the globigerina limestone pillars and walls.