On Friday 27 January, Professor Adrian-Mario Gellel, a member of the Faculty of Education, University of Malta will be delivering a lecture titled Retelling the narrative of the 1429 siege of Mdina within a contemporary secular and pluralistic context.
The lecture intends to discuss the cultural elements attached to the 1429 siege as a case study on how to retell a story that for centuries was deeply interpreted through a Christian lens in a context that is now becoming ever more secular and pluralistic. It will hopefully shed light on the centrality of symbols in the construction of personal and national symbolic repertoires, as well as the pedagogical approaches that may need to be adopted in order to continue to value the collective memory. The lecture will be held at St. Paul’s Cathedral, Mdina at 19:00.
The one hour event will also feature the premiere of a video animation of Mattia Preti’s painting ‘St. Paul conquering the Moors’ produced by Stargate Studios and the launch of an accompanying teaching manual published by the Symbol Literacy Project and the National Literacy Agency.
This lecture is part of the ongoing development of the Symbol Literacy pedagogical approach, which aims to to enable young children’s engagement with the metaphorical and symbolical underpinnings present in paintings, narratives and rituals. It aims to enrich children’s cultural capital as well as the acquisition of observation, interpretation and reasoning skills.
This event will be of particular interest to educators, historians, and anyone interested in local history and culture.