The Malta Independent on Sunday
Chapel at Palazzo de La Salle wins Din l-Art Ħelwa award
The conservation of the chapel at Palazzo de La Salle in Valletta wins top prize in its category at the 15th edition of the Din l-Art Ħelwa Awards for Architectural Heritage
At the 15th edition of the Din l-Art Ħelwa awards for Architectural Heritage, the Malta Society of Arts (MSA), in collaboration with the Department of Conservation and Built Heritage of the University of Malta, won the highest prize in Category B, which honours the best Rehabilitation and Re-use projects, for the conservation of Palazzo de La Salle’s chapel. The jury commented that it’s an “extremely accomplished project […] an outstanding contribution to Maltese cultural heritage and the achievement of architectural excellence in Malta”.
This top Prix d’honneur was presented by the Minister for Tourism and Consumer Protection Clayton Bartolo during a ceremony held during the last week of February at Our Lady of Victory Church in Valletta. The voluntary organisation Din l-Art Ħelwa, which strives to safeguard the historic, artistic and natural heritage of Malta through its relentless work, organises these awards to encourage excellence in re-generation, rehabilitation, re-use, restoration and conservation projects throughout the Maltese islands.
Din l-Art Ħelwa commented that this award given to the MSA and the Department of Conservation and Built Heritage of the Faculty of the Built Environment at the University of Malta is extremely important as the chapel houses some of the few early oil-on-stone paintings to survive from the Knights’ period and in a domestic context. Maria Grazia Cassar, who chaired the jury for the awards, explains that “the rehabilitation of this chapel includes the display of the MSA’s small, but important collection of sacred art. The synergy between the artworks by some of Malta’s finest artists from the previous century and the chapel’s 17thcentury envelope is awe-inspiring, to say the least, and is particularly enhanced by their arrangement and the specialist lighting which was installed”.
The chapel at Palazzo de La Salle in Valletta, which has been the seat of the MSA for almost a 100 years, is one of the earliest and finest examples of chapels situated in a private residence in Valletta. Through this project, the paintings in the chapel can now be dated to the mid-17th and early 18th centuries. Their aesthetic and historic values have not been compromised by excessive restoration. Collaborative work undertaken between the MSA, the University of Malta and other Maltese heritage institutions has further strengthened our understanding of the significance of the paintings and the history of the palace as a whole.
The chapel, which had been closed since the early 20th century, is now open to the public. On top of the wall paintings, visitors can also enjoy the most exclusive elements of the MSA’s collection of religious works of art, including works by Cremona, Inglott, Bonnici, Alden and Sciortino.
MSA president Arch. Adrian Mamo, who drove the chapel’s transformation, described the award as a great honour. “The
MSA and the Department of Conservation and Built Environment worked intensely for around two years on the conservation of these wall paintings, so we feel incredibly honoured to be recognised for this important project which required perseverance and determination from all sides,” he says.
Prof. JoAnn Cassar, head of the Department of Conservation and Built Heritage, thanked Din l-Art Ħelwa for the award, but also the dedicated team who conducted the conservation meticulously.
The chapel and the artworks contained within it can be visited during the Malta Society of Arts’ opening hours: Monday to Friday 8am to 7pm and Saturdays 9am to 1.30pm. Entrance is free.
We live at a time when hospitals are central in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. This can also be said for the post-First World War period when two hospitals were opened in 1922 – The Malta War Memorial Hospital for Children and the King George V Seamen’s Memorial Hospital (built in memory of the sailors of the merchant navy who died during the Great War). This feature focuses on the former hospital and gives a clear idea of the daily running and especially the financing of this religiousrun hospital
The Malta Malta has a high standard of health services provided both by the state and privately-owned hospitals. This tradition developed over the centuries, especially in the area of welfare society with the setting up of private and religious-run hospitals. The earliest hospital in Malta was the Hospital of St Francis at Rabat which in 1372 was already functioning.
One cannot fail to mention the iconic Sacra Infermeria. During the existence of the Knights’ Order, the Sacra Infermeria at Valletta was open to strangers as well as to the citizens, for whom suitable accommodations were provided. The sick were regularly attended by the knights in person, provided with medicines and medical assistance free of expense and food served in silver vessels.
During the inter-war period (19181940), Malta saw the creation of a number of religious-run hospitals. The lessons learned from the First World War (19141918) Spanish Flu pandemic experience were still fresh in the minds of the population. This pandemic had claimed the lives of 730 persons, mostly in the 15-45 age group. This pandemic also contributed in changing attitudes for the creation of private and religious-run hospitals.
The Malta War Memorial Hospital for Children was opened to the public on 11 November 1922. It was founded and maintained by public subscription in memory of the sons of Malta who gave their lives in the Great War and of their brothers-in-arms who, dying in the same great cause, rest on these shores.
This children’s hospital was set up on the grounds of the building where the Zammit Clapp hospital (formerly known as the Blue Sisters’ Hospital) stands in St Julian’s.
According to Charles Savona-Ventura in his work, Civil hospitals in Malta in the last two hundred years, Zammit Clapp Hospital ceased to function as a seamen’s hospital in December 1922 when the King George V Merchant Seamen’s Memorial Hospital was opened. After being vacated, Zammit Clapp Hospital, with only 20 beds, started being used as a children’s hospital. The Children War Memorial Hospital was further expanded by utilizing the ground-floor of the adjoining Sacred Heart Convent.
Sifting through the report of this hospital for 1934, a vivid idea emerges of how such a hospital was organised and run, its financing, mainly through donations in cash and kind (received since the last Armistice Day), cots maintained out of endowments, the different sub-divisions of the hospital and number of cases seen, statement of accounts and the monies received from Rose Day.
The Alexandra Rose Day (a variable date in June) is a charitable fund-raising event held in the United Kingdom since 1912 by Alexandra Rose Charities. It was first launched on the 50th anniversary of the arrival of Queen Alexandra from her native Denmark to the United Kingdom. In 1934 it was celebrated on 1 April.
The period July 1933 to July 1934 resulted in the slowing down of work at the hospital due to the introduction of an infectious disease. Precautions had to be taken and the spread was very limited, but admission of patients had to be stopped altogether for over seven weeks and surgical work deferred longer. This resulted in only 232 children being treated as in-patients.
An out-patients block had been opened in December 1933 and 196 children had been brought up to December 1934.
A number of cots were maintained through the sponsorship of different individuals and organisations such as the Government of Malta (eight cots), Malta Police (one cot named ‘police cot’), the Malta Red Cross (one cot), the Catholic Women’s League (one cot) and many others donors.
The hospital was sub-divided as follows:
• Medical (Professor E. H. Ferro B.A., M.D)
• Surgical (Professor P. P. Debono M.D., D.P.H. (Camb.) F.R.S.C., Eng.
• Outpatients (Dr S. Debono B.Sc., M.D., D.L.O)
The main cases treated in the surgical division were tonsils and adenoids and hernia while in the medical sub-division the main cases were enteritis, kala-azar, marasmus and undulant fever.
The hospital was managed by a Governing Board and the patron of the hospital was H.R.H. The Duke of Connaught. An Executive Committee was responsible for the day-to-day administration. The hospital had Honorary medical staff, Resident medical officers, matrons and nurses and an Honorary apothecary and an assistant secretary.
As a voluntary free hospital, income was mainly through the support of the community. This meant that it had to rely on the goodwill and sympathy of others. Thanks to the continued public and personal support the hospital kept running.
The donors included members of the British officers serving in Malta, members of the Maltese nobility and many individuals who donated in kind various items such as toys, chocolate, eggs, dresses and shoes, rubber pants and vests, oranges, cots, vests and jumpers, caramels and used cots and prams.