Fodor's Expert Review The Malta Experience and La Sacra Infermeria
Before they were famed for their military exploits, the Knights of St. John were a medical order, set up by Pope Gregory in 603 AD to care for sick and injured pilgrims arriving in the Holy Land. When they opened La Sacra Infermeria (The Holy Infirmary) in Valletta in 1574, it was one of the most revolutionary in Europe, with amazing results partly due to the Knights' predilection for serving food on silver plates—the metal has antibacterial qualities, which weren't understood at the time; the knights just found them easier to clean. This building (now a conference center) is the setting for the 45-minute Malta Experience, a multimedia presentation on the history of the islands that is given here daily on the hour. It spans 7,000 years, all the way from early settlers and the Great Siege of the Knights to World War II, and concludes with a tour of the building itself, offering a more tangible glimpse of the history that unfolds on the screen.
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Before they were famed for their military exploits, the Knights of St. John were a medical order, set up by Pope Gregory in 603 AD to care for sick and injured pilgrims arriving in the Holy Land. When they opened La Sacra Infermeria (The Holy Infirmary) in Valletta in 1574, it was one of the most revolutionary in Europe, with amazing results partly due to the Knights' predilection for serving food on silver plates—the metal has antibacterial qualities, which weren't understood at the time; the knights just found them easier to clean. This building (now a conference center) is the setting for the 45-minute Malta Experience, a multimedia presentation on the history of the islands that is given here daily on the hour. It spans 7,000 years, all the way from early settlers and the Great Siege of the Knights to World War II, and concludes with a tour of the building itself, offering a more tangible glimpse of the history that unfolds on the screen.
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