“La Morte e fin d’ una prigoinoe oscura,” begins the epitaph. “Death is the end of a dark prison.” The translation is from Memento Mori, a stunning, exhaustive study of the floor by the historian Dane Munro. The book features lush photographs of each individual tombstone by photographer Maurizio Urso as well as Munro’s translations of the inscriptions and explications of the heraldic symbols. A must-have for any polychrome intarsia marble tombstone enthusiast. It now has pride of place on our coffee table.
The tombstone belonging to Francois de Tressemanes Chastuel Brunet.
The inscription reads: “He exhausted the incurability of a long lasting illness by his invincible endurance, so that it may seem that Death did not assail him, but that he challenged Death to a wrestling match.”
Once home to the Knights of St. John and now home to its House of Representatives.
Photograph by John Swansburg.
Armor that belonged to Grand Master Jean Parisot de la Vallette.
Photograph by Happy Menocal.
A chanfron, armor worn by a knight’s horse.
Photograph by Happy Menocal.
Detail of the chanfron belonging to Alof de Wignacourt.
Photograph by John Swansburg.
Fort St. Elmo, which fell to the Turks during the Great Siege.
Photograph by Happy Menocal.
Fort St. Angelo, in Vittoriosa, as seen from Valletta’s Upper Baraka Gardens.
Vallette commanded the knights from Vittoriosa during the Great Siege. Later, the fort contained a prison, from which Caravaggio would somehow escape after running afoul of the knights.
