Art In Malta

We're just back from a lovely trip to Malta. The island is strategically located in the Mediterranean Sea, just south of Sicily. Having been occupied or administered by Phoenicians, Romans and British amongst others, it is steeped in history. But despite this varied history, we weren't expecting to see much in the way of art.

However, we had barely got off the plane before we encountered our first piece of Maltese art. As we entered the airport terminal building we passed a modern sculpture called Flight (pictured). This was the beginning of an art journey through the ages.

Our first trip out was to the capital, Valletta, where crowds were celebrating Republic Day. We had been led to believe that everywhere would be closed but we found all the shops open. These included quite a few art shops selling contemporary paintings, ceramics, glass and jewellery.

Whilst in Valletta we also visited the Casa Rocca Picola, a splendid 16th century palace now owned and occupied by the 9th Marquis and Marchioness De Piro. As everyone else was watching the Military displays in Republic Square, we were given a personal tour by the guide and were able to spend more time looking at the things we found particularly interesting. Every room was filled with pictures, including family portraits dating back to the 1500's, local landscapes and other interesting subjects.

Later in the week we returned to Valletta to visit The National Museum of Fine Arts. On display are a large number of pictures by artists who were either native to the island or who had visited there. The dates range from the 1400s to the present day and many of the earlier pictures are in a Caravaggistic style. Sadly, we missed seeing some of Caravaggio's own paintings which are in the St John's Co-Cathedral; we arrived 15 minutes after it had closed. If you're not familiar with Caravaggio, you can read more here.

Moving back to Roman times, we visited the domus museum at Rabat, near Mdina. A small display of artifacts did not really prepare us for the splendid mosaic floors that had been unearthed here. Sections of mosaic were also on display around the rooms. Some of these were made with tessera only few millimetres in size. The exquisite detail must have taken a team of artisans months to create.

Going back even further in time, the Hypogeum in Paola is a series of prehistoric underground burial chambers dating back between 4000 and 6000 years. This amazing feat of architecture carved out of the limestone to form interconnected chambers is the last place you would expect to find art. But in some of the more recent (if you can call 4000 years recent) chambers, hexagonal and spiral patterns painted in red ochre could just be made out on the walls and ceilings.

What we had planned to be a simple, relaxing holiday with visits to a few historic places, turned out to be a fascinating exploration of the history of art in Malta.


Vicky and Vince,
Love Your Art