Te Deum | Motets for the King
This film is only available in the United States because of territorial licensing.
The magnificent Cathedral of Saint John of Valletta, commissioned in 1572 by the Grand Master of Malta, Jean de la Cassière, is a jewel of Baroque architecture. The “joyous and martial tone” of the Te Deum, as Charpentier called it, goes wonderfully with this historic site built for the Knights of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. Its sober facade hides within it a treasure made up of gilding and paintings by great masters such as Caravaggio or Mattia Preti, designated to decorate the building. Baptized “Co-cathedral,” it shares this title with Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul Cathedral of Mdina, also built in Malta.