On Thursday 7 March 2024, a Maquette of the late scholar of Maltese literature and language Prof. Oliver Friggieri was donated to the Melitensia collection of the University of Malta (UM) This maquette, a shortlisted proposal for the competition issued by Heritage Malta for the national monument in honour of Prof. Oliver Friggieri, was donated by the design team led by , currently a Prof. at the Pontifical Gregorian University, and included Chev. Antonio Mifsud, a sculptor versed in human anatomy, Kim Farrugia and .
At the time of the competition, Kim Farrugia and Alessandra Bianco were postgraduate and undergraduate students at the and the , respectively.
The proposed monument was to be constructed from monolithic blocks of granite, a geological material associated with permanence, with a figurative, life-sized a bronze figure of Friggieri and his dog sitting on a ‘b±ð²Ô³¦³ó’. The bench is part of a block, black in colour, recalling a tombstone; he is beyond the grave, hence the sitting position with no date of his demise. Blue pearl-coloured granite, symbolising the sky, rises from the tombstone forming a backdrop to the ‘b±ð²Ô³¦³ó’.
White veined blocks are used to signify clouds. Engraved on the black granite slab and infilled in white, is the following text: "L-imħabba fjur li jinbet waħdu fil-qalb / Jisbieħ u jfuħ biex madwaru jitrabba l-ferħ".
The proposed location for the monument was meant to be in , a site frequented by locals, especially by families and, notably, by school children. Visitors would have been able to sit on the ‘b±ð²Ô³¦³ó’ adjacent to the figure of Friggieri and could additionally take photos with it; there would be space next to the bench for wheelchair users. Further to this, the popular children’s game Il-Passju, was included in the proposal as tiling in front of the monument.
The Director of Library ¸£ÀûÔÚÏßÃâ·Ñ thanked the team for the donation. Also present for the event were the Deputy Director Library ¸£ÀûÔÚÏßÃâ·Ñ , the Manager of the Melitensia Section , and Library Managers and .
A number of academics and scholars were present: Prof. Emeritus Charles Briffa (, , University of Malta), Senior Lecturer (, ) and Senior Lecturer (Head of Department of Maltese, , and one of Malta's most prolific writers, nominee for the European Union Prize for Literature and visiting lecturer at the Aleks Farrugia. The maquette will be held at the reading room of the Melitensia Section which, as from 6 January 2023, was named in honour of the late scholar.
The design concept underlying this proposal is available on the online access institutional repository of the UM Library .
A similar submission, but addressing a second proposal by the same design team, is available on the repository .
