Museums, Convents and Palaces

Did you know immediately who this woman was? And whose head she is so casually holding out to you?

Thus do we turn horror into everyday.

The statue is Salome with the head of John the Baptist and I think it is in the Parish Museum in Naxxar.

Already Sunday's tour with Malta Council for Culture and the Arts is blurring together into generic images of religious museum artifacts - clerical robes, ancient books of music, iconic paintings- and chapels - gold leaf, domed and vaulted ceilings, christ crucified. Malta is so richly endowed with historical collections that it is impossible to hold a catalogue of even one morning's exploration in my head.

Nevertheless, the two places we visited in Rabat surprised me. The Augustinian convent is not normally open to the public. We were shown around by one of the seven monks for whom this beautiful cloister is home. The convent is massive with wide, stone flagged corridors around a central court, a huge, wood paneled refectory and a grandfather clock bigger than any I have ever seen complete with its own ladder beside to enable adjustment. It is a contemplative order and the convent certainly provides room to think! Yet the small living room shared by the seven residents has ordinary armchairs facing a TV, and there is an enormous laundry with white and brown habits hanging on a rack to dry.

Casa Bernard is also in Rabat and was the C16 home of a Maltese noble family. It is still lived in today and has been restored and opened to the public. I will return there and enjoy one of the guided tours that they offer Monday to Saturday with a smaller group than we had on Sunday. The family has a huge collection of French and Maltese antique furniture and their modern art hangings include a Dali and several Dinglis.

The streets of Rabat were already decorated in preparation for the feast of St Joseph this coming weekend. But Sunday morning was cold and rainy and it was difficult to appreciate the exteriors of the chapels and museums as we trudged from bus to entrance. For the next tour to Fort Manoel, Selmun Palace and tas-Sultan Castle in Wardija, I must take a note book so I can remember more of the full commentary given by our English-speaking guide.