Palazzo de La Salle Conservation Project Crowdfunds on Zaar

A crowdfunding campaign on the local platform Zaar has been launched to support the professional conservation of the Baroque wall paintings of the Chapel of the splendid Palazzo de La Salle in Valletta.

Palazzo de La Salle was built in the late 16th century and was home to the Knights of the Order of St John for hundreds of years. The Palazzo has been the seat of the Malta Society of Arts (MSA) since 1923, and is currently used by the MSA for arts education, exhibitions and performances. The little-known Chapel inside the Palazzo is decorated with stunning 1730s wall paintings, depicting the Coats of Arms of Fra Guillaume de La Salle, Grandmaster Manoel de Vilhena, and scenes from the Life of St John. The paintings are highly significant historical and artistic evidence of the era of the Knights, and some of the few Baroque wall paintings in Malta to survive within a domestic context. Extraordinarily, they survive in their original form, never having been restored or overpainted over the past decades. Such important paintings, how- ever, have been long forgotten and they are currently virtually unknown to the public.

The conservation project of the wall paintings of the Chapel was started in 2016 by the University of Malta’s Department of Conservation and Built Heritage team, composed of professional conservators and students. The Department is now crowdfunding in order to complete the conservation project. The final phase of the project will include the cleaning and retouching of the paintings and is a crucial stage of the work, since it will re- Beyond helping to safeguard such a significant piece of Malta’s art heritage, any sponsors of the project’s crowdfunding campaign will receive an exciting reward, dependent on the amount donated on the following page: http://www.zaar.com.mt/projects/conservationpalazzodelasalle/. The following rewards are included: turn full legibility and aesthetic value to the paintings. This will require 6 months of full-time work of two recent professional graduates, under the continuing guidance of the professional departmental staff, after which the paintings will be presented to the public. The Chapel will then house exhibitions, showcasing the work of the Department and its sponsors.

For this final phase, the Department and the Malta Society of Arts need your help. Through this crowdfunding campaign on the ZAAR platform ( www.zaar.com.mt/projects/conservationpalazzodelasalle/), everyone can contribute to bring this project to life. Everyone can, and should, feel part of it.

The Department estimates that, in order to complete the project, a total of €25,000 is required over a six-month period, to fund both the human and material resources necessary.

The Department of Conservation and Built Heritage and the Malta Society of Arts are proud to help bring life back to a heritage site that belongs to all of us. Conservation is not about the past, but about the future. What we choose to preserve today determines the legacy that we leave for the following generations. Whoever supports this conservation project should be proud to be actively part of this amazing process.

Nathalie Debono treating the wall paintings of the Chapel of Palazzo De la Salle (©Department of Conservation and Built Heritage, University of Malta)

The team involved in the conservation of the Chapel (2016-2018): Michel Salameh, Nathalie Debono Helene Nuland, Lara Marie Walker, Roberta De Angelis, Chiara Pasian and Jennifer Porter

Helene Nuland stabilising the Coat of Arms of Grandmaster Manoel de Vilhena Frieze Chapel of Palazzo De la Salle (Department of Conservation and Built Heritage University of Malta)