A late medieval and an early modern window in the reserve collection of the National Museum of Archaeology

Abstract

This paper focuses on there mains of two windows of notable interest to Maltese art history in the reserve collection of the National Museum of Archaeology in Valletta. The first which, to my knowledge, has never before been published, consists of two limestone slabs which must have formed part of particularly fine sculpted window, with a drip-mould ornamented with crisply carved acanthus leaves and rosettes. The second is a square-headed, richly ornate window that was originally on a sixteenth, or perhaps early seventeenth- century country house in Carmel Street, Luqa, where it survived until 1929 when the house was demolished. Sir Themistocles Zammit took special care to have the window carefully dismantled and had it reassembled in the courtyard of the Auberge d'ltalie in Valletta that at the time housed the National Museum collection. It survived at the Auberge d'ltalie until a couple of years ago, when the Auberge became the Ministry of Tourism. Its importance was unfortunately not recognized with the result that it was dismantled and is now a heap of unnumbered stones. The window was one of the finest surviving examples of Maltese Early Modern vernacular architecture. Its decorative idiosyncrasies were heavily indebted to Medieval prototypes filtered through the popular experience. The only reference to this window is that contained in Mario Buhagiar's, The Late Medieval Art and Architecture of the Maltese Islands, published in 2005. These architectural remains are virtually unknown and In a state of neglect. The purpose of this paper is to draw an awareness of their artistic significance.