The National Library of Malta will be holding its third public lecture on 'Properties of the Order of St John - Structural transformations in Valletta's houses' to be delivered by Mevrick Spiteri on Wednesday 30 January 2019 at 18:30. The lecture will focus on matters of architecture, social spaces and constructions of houses in Valletta as recorded in archival sources.
Property was a significant asset for the Order of St John. The economisation of built property encouraged by the Grand Masters’ prompted the set-up of autonomous foundations. These foundations, as their cabrei testify, acquired and changed property into valuable assets.
Their mastering of built properties transformed Valletta into a central property-hub, emphasizing these entities’ active engagement into socio-economic and commercial activities. Valletta’s houses are an example of this. The restructuring of houses into segregated spaces shifted from the notion of unified and spacious structures to a
conglomerate of separate living spaces in which knights, unrelated families, and merchants lived.
This lecture forms part of a series of 8 public lectures on Urban Landscapes spanning over 2018 and 2019. Entitled ‘Cities, Harbours, and Artefacts: transformations of an early modern landscape’, these series of public lectures are coordinated by Mevrick Spiteri and Maroma Camilleri. The remaining public lectures are to be held:
Lecture 4: 28 February 2019 at 18:30
'Maritime Spaces - Human Choices' by Prof. Timmy Gambin
Lecture 5: 26 March 2019 at 18:30
'Early Sales of Plots of Land in Valletta' by Prof. Stanley Fiorini
Lecture 6: 24 April 2019 at 18:30
'Fortress Aesthetics and its Silent Poetry - The Maltese Fortified Landscape and its Representation in Art' by Dr Stephen C. Spiteri
Lecture 7: 29 May 2019 at 18:30
'Of Markets and Melting-Pots - Commercial spaces in Early Modern Valletta' by Christian Mifsud
Lecture 8: 28 June 2019 at 18:30
'Malta's harbour in 1798 - the transformation of a new urban landscape' by Mevrick Spiteri
Admission is free. Public lectures will be followed by light refreshments.
For further information visit the or send an email to events.library@gov.mt.
For further information visit the or send an email to events.library@gov.mt.
