The Department of History Art, founded in 2006, is one of the newer departments in the Faculty of Arts, but it can trace its roots back to 1987 when an Art Unit was set up to pioneer degree courses in the history and appreciation of the visual arts. The Unit became in this way responsible for the academic formation of a generation of art historians who now occupy the key posts in Malta’s cultural and heritage management institutions. Its greatest achievement was however to stimulate an informed research programme that has resulted in the rewriting of the art history of Malta in its Western European and Mediterranean dimensions. It also coordinated major conservation and restoration interventions, and participated in the organisation of important exhibitions.

The Department has built on the accumulated academic prestige of the Unit and enjoys the respect of the international art word. Its academic members of staff publish in specialised journals and books, actively participate in international history of art fora, and sit on the organising committees of major international exhibitions. It runs a centre of Caravaggio Studies and has three main areas of specialisation: