https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/8105 Tue, 29 Sep 2026 16:09:33 GMT 2026-09-29T16:09:33Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/148534 Title: John Loughborough Pearson and the Lady Hamilton Gordon chapel (1893–94) : Gothic Revivalism and eclecticism at Ta’ Braxia Cemetery, Malta Authors: Thake, Conrad Abstract: The subject of this contribution is the Lady Hamilton Gordon chapel at Ta’ Braxia Cemetery, Malta (1893–94), designed by the Victorian architect John Loughborough Pearson (1817– 97). Although Pearson’s ecclesiastical works in England, spanning an architectural career of over six decades, are well known, his memorial chapel in Malta, which together with St John’s Cathedral in Brisbane (1901–2009) constitute his only overseas works, has to date not been comprehensively researched. This contribution sheds light on the chapel’s historical origins, contextualising them within Pearson’s extensive corpus of Gothic Revival churches in England, while citing the Royal Mausoleum at Frogmore and the basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna as potential architectural models. A closely knit familial network featuring Lady Hamilton Gordon’s brother, George Shaw Levefre, his brother-in-law Arthur Hamilton Gordon, and the architect John Loughborough Pearson was the catalyst for the commission, design, and execution of the Ta’ Braxia chapel. This Shorter Notice also challenges but does not resolve the traditional attribution of John Loughborough Pearson as the sole designer of the Ta’ Braxia chapel. As the chapel was designed a few years before Pearson’s death, it could well be the case that his son, Frank Pearson (1864–1947), played a leading role in its design. This argument is further buttressed by drawing upon architectural similarities between the Hamilton Gordon chapel and Frank Pearson’s St Matthew-in-the-City Church, Auckland (1902–04), completed a few years later. Thu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/148534 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/145942 Title: Pawlu Grech : a Cosmos of Art Authors: Schembri Bonaci, Giuseppe Abstract: The publication pays homage to pioneering Maltese multidisciplinary artist Pawlu Grech (1938–2021). It documents a three-part project consisting of a concert, an exhibition of his visual works from 1949 to the 1980s, and a scholarly essay. The text explores Grech’s "talent trinity" as a musician, artist, and thinker, focusing on his innovative use of atonal compositional language, "sonic hieroglyphs," and the interrelationship between musical and visual structures. Thu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/145942 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/145350 Title: Perit André Zammit's bequest to the National Archives of Malta Authors: Thake, Conrad Abstract: Eric André Zammit (1930–2020) distinguished himself as an architect and as a senior lecturer at the University of Malta. He was born in Gozo in 1930 and experienced the war years there. Upon completing his secondary education at the Seminary in Gozo, he continued his studies at St Aloysius College in Birkirkara. After his matriculation examinations, he was admitted to the Royal University of Malta to pursue studies in Architecture and Civil Engineering. He graduated in 1952, the youngest of his class, and proceeded to post-graduate studies in highway engineering and road design in London and Milan. Upon his return, he was employed by the Public Works (1952–1965), specifically in the Roads Department, where he was involved in major infrastructural projects including Malta's first traffic fly-over at Blata l-Bajda, undertaken during the late 1950s. In the mid-1960s he established his own private architectural practice. During the 1970s and 80s, Zammit lectured in the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering at the University of Malta. [excerpt] Thu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/145350 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/145305 Title: International perspectives on the decorative arts : nineteenth-century Malta Authors: Sagona, Mark Abstract: Perspectives on the Decorative Arts in nineteenth-century Malta was the title of the first conference on the Decorative Arts with a focus on Malta which I had the honour and privilege to convene, together with my colleague and friend from the Universita’ degli Studi di Palermo, Dr Roberta Cruciata, for the Department of Art and Art History, Faculty of Arts at the University of Malta. The conference, which was held at the Istituto Italiano di Cultura in Valletta on the 2nd May 2019 – on the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) – was a very significant milestone for the Department’s growing interest in the artistically rich field of the Decorative Arts in the Maltese Islands. This academic initiative was also a watershed for the study of this little-studied subject, one of the fundamental pillars of art-making in Malta and Gozo. The peculiar politico-religious set up of the time permitted a distinct rapport with the larger international dimension of the Decorative Arts in the period. Hence the title of this publication. There is an international common denominator which runs throughout all contributions. [extract] Fri, 01 Jan 2021 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/145305 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z