/library/oar/handle/123456789/40262 Thu, 01 Jan 2026 23:05:06 GMT 2026-01-01T23:05:06Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/40477 Title: The passport to eternal life Abstract: “Everyone will admit that the art of dying well is the most important of all the arts,” writes St Robert Bellarmine in the preface to his De Arte Bene Moriendi, published in the second decade of the 17th century. Yet, how is a good death ensured? What are the necessary steps and measures that, taken during one’s lifetime, assist the soul’s safe passage to heaven? What are the ways, if any, that ascertain as short a stay as possible in the flames of purgatory? These are a few of the questions explored by Frans Ciappara, from the University of Malta’s International Institute of Baroque Studies, during a well-attended public lecture delivered at the Inquisitor’s Palace in Vittoriosa, which was introduced by the director of the Institute, Denis De Lucca. Description: This article first appeared in The Sunday Times of Malta on 27 January 2013. The event was organised by the International Institute of Baroque Studies at the University of Malta in collaboration with Heritage Malta. The lecture was accompanied by David Ellul who provided short musical interludes on the violoncello, consisting of excerpts by Vivaldi, Schubert and Grieg related to the theme. Tue, 01 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT /library/oar/handle/123456789/40477 2013-01-01T00:00:00Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/40463 Title: Mattia Preti events : 4th centenary celebrations in 2013 Abstract: Mattia Preti was born in 1613 in Taverna in Calabria, Italy. He worked in Rome and Naples as a painter, and in 1658 he visited Malta where he painted important works for the Knights of the Order of St John. Preti became a Knight of Magistral Grace within the Order of St John under Grandmaster Nicholas Cotoner. He continued to paint and received many ecclesiastical and private commissions for his work in Malta, until his death in 1699. The 4th centenary of the birth of this accomplished 17th century artist was marked in Malta in 2013 by an international exhibition, publications, lectures and other initiatives. Tue, 01 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT /library/oar/handle/123456789/40463 2013-01-01T00:00:00Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/40462 Title: Baroque Routes Newsletter - Issue 9 Abstract: Contents: Mattia Preti events, 4th centenary celebrations in 2013… 4/ The beginnings of the Manoel Baroque festival… 6/ The city-fortress of Valletta in the Baroque age… 8/ A new centre on fortifications in Valletta… 18/ The passport to eternal life… 19/ Summer school on Baroque military architecture… 22/ Journal of Baroque Studies / MA dissertations 2013… 24. Sun, 01 Dec 2013 00:00:00 GMT /library/oar/handle/123456789/40462 2013-12-01T00:00:00Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/40455 Title: The city-fortress of Valletta in the Baroque age Abstract: The Baroque age is generally considered to have begun in the last third of the sixteenth century and to have ended in the mid-eighteenth, covering the period of time between the Italian Renaissance (and its Mannerist sequel) and Neo-classicism. In Europe, the Baroque architectural expression was an integral component of an aristocratic culture incorporating art and architecture, religious and philosophical attitudes, political, military and social structures, geographical and scientific discoveries, literary achievements and ceremonial and theatrical displays. Towards the end of the sixteenth century these different aspects of human endevour started interacting together to form the basis of a new Baroque lifestyle. Tue, 01 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT /library/oar/handle/123456789/40455 2013-01-01T00:00:00Z