Stefano Ittar - architect of the Order of St John in Malta (1784-1790)

Abstract

The Bibliotheca or National Library building in Valletta was the last major public building project undertaken by the Order of St John in Malta, before their expulsion from the island in 1798. Although the construction of the Bibliotheca dates to the period 1786-1796, the origins of establishing a public library can be traced to the early days of the Order in Malta. In 1555 Grand Master Claude de La Sengle issued a magisterial decree which stated that all books of the deceased knights were to be bequeathed to the Treasury of the Order. This ordinance must not have been rigorously adhered to as in 1612, Grand Master Wignacourt reiterated the prohibition on the sale of books that formed part of the spogli of the knights. The first depository of the Order’s volumes can be traced to 1650, where the books were stored in the vestry situated in a room located over the Oratory of the Conventual church of St John in Valletta. The collection was later transferred to a building in the Strada Reale in a premises referred to as the Forfantone. However, it was not until 1776, that the formal foundation of the Bibliotheca Publica was established at the Cathedral Chapter convened by Grand Master Emmanuel de Rohan. Although a decision had been taken to construct a new library building it was only nine years later on the 16 April 1785, that the procurators of the Order’s Comun Tesoro formally commissioned the architect Stefano Ittar to design and supervise the Bibliotheca in Valletta. From the deliberations of the Comun Tesoro, one can surmise that Ittar had been working on the designs for the project since October 1784: «Avendo noi chiamato in Convento l’Architetto D. Stefano Ittar per fabricare la nuova Bibliotecha abbiamo convenuto col medesimo di dargli l’assegnamento annuale di scudi mille cinquecento che deve principiare a decorrere dalli 2 Ottobre 1784, con pagargli in oltre, lo affitto di casa».