[Photo from left to right: Mr Pierre Cassar, Director of the UM Marketing, Communications & Alumni Office, Prof. JoAnn Cassar, Head of the Department of Conservation and Built Heritage, UM Rector, Prof. Alfred J. Vella, Minister for the Environment, Climate Change & Planning, Hon. Aaron Farrugia, Minister for National Heritage, the Arts and Local Government, Hon. Dr José Herrera, and Heritage Malta Chairman, Mr Anthony Scicluna]
Thanks to a donation of €75,000 by the Planning Authority (PA), professional conservators and Masters students within the University’s Department of Conservation and Built Heritage, Faculty for the Built Environment, are continuing the conservation of the detailed and historically accurate wall paintings illustrating the 1565 Great Siege.
During a site visit to the D’Aleccio paintings, Perit Vincent Cassar, PA Chairperson, said ‘The Planning Authority wholeheartedly chose to support this project because of its two-fold approach. Not only will the project ensure that these prestigious wall paintings are professionally restored, but it will serve to provide our future generation of conservators with the training and practical experience they require. It is only by exposing our students to such high-level professional projects within a closely-supervised setting that they can excel in this discipline and gain first-hand experience in the conservation of decorative architectural surfaces.
“Besides continuing with our responsibility to give protection status to our cultural and architectural heritage, we will continue to support projects such as the D’Aleccio project to demonstrate our commitment towards the preservation and conservation of our national treasures”, he continued.
This funding allows the continuation of the project which the Department took on in 2018, said Prof. JoAnn Cassar, Head of the Department of Conservation & Built Heritage. “Leading onto the actual conservation interventions which will take place this year, the Department’s professional conservators and Masters students have already undertaken extensive archival research, as well as detailed on-site investigations using an array of non-invasive techniques, to identify and document past events such as previous restorations or war damage – which all have significant implications for paintings’ ongoing interpretation and conservation”, she continued.
The project includes the full participation of graduates following the MSc in Conservation of Decorative Architectural Surfaces at the Department of Conservation & Built Heritage, the Department’s own professional conservators, as well as Heritage Malta conservators and curators.
The paintings were executed by Italian artist, Matteo Pérez D’Aleccio (1547 – before 1616), who was specifically invited over to Malta in 1577 to depict the Great Siege events by Grand Master Fra Jean de la Cassière (1572-1581) himself. The Great Siege is depicted in 12 episodes interspaced by allegorical figures as a frieze decorating the upper part of the walls of the Throne Room at the Grandmaster’s Palace, presenting the four-month siege in a narrative sequence.