The National Library of Malta will be holding its fifth public lecture entitled ‘Early Buildings on the Xiberras Peninsula and the sale of Plots in Valletta’ to be delivered on Tuesday 26 March at 18:30 by Professor Stanley Fiorini. The lecture will focus on the late 16th Century contracts from Notary Placido Abela highlighting the Order of St John’s sale of plots on the Xiberras peninsula and Valletta’s earliest buildings.
This theme was originally investigated in the paper 'Fel uardiae col sceber raba iesue vqiae' presented to the late Maurice de Giorgio in the festschrift in his honour, entitled A Timeless Gentleman, published by Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti. In that paper, for reasons of space constraints, only the first 75 entries, dating from 1569, from the full list of 573 contracts published by Notary Placido Abela were considered; the whole list covered the years 1569 to 1576. The lecture will draw on the whole gamut, highlighting trends and patterns in the acquisition of property.
This lecture forms part of a series of eight 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 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.
