The parish church of the Immaculate Conception, Cospicua : history, architecture and works of art

Abstract

This dissertation's main objective is to study the Parish Church of the Immaculate Conception at Cospicua, from an art historical aspect and to provide an insight into the various aspects which make up the Church, such as architecture, painting, sculpture and other objets d'art. This shall be done by providing a general historical overview of the Church, placing the Church in its context and showing its subsequent developments, starting with the old Cospicua church to the building of the present one. An architectural appreciation follows in the second chapter, with an emphasis on the plan and the main features of the facade. The third and fourth chapters of the dissertation provide a description and analysis of the art historical paintings in the Church, which will be discussed within their context. In the subsequent final chapter of the long essay, the sculptural works found within the Parish, mainly centered upon feast and processional statues are addressed. An account on the vast selection of objets d'art, including the rich collection of silverware, is also given in this chapter. However, the array of silverworks, in possession of the Parish, did not allow for an indepth study of them, thus some will be dealt in brief. The Cospicua Parish Church of the Immaculate Conception as a whole has not been studied and this study has long been overdue. Therefore, this provided me with a greater challenge. A great difficulty in the research phase of this long essay was presented through the Parish Archives. Conducting research in the Parish archive was not an easy task, for the very fact that the archive cannot be accessed without the supervision of an authority. Furthermore, the Cospicua Parish Archive is not conveniently organised, which created a bigger problem. Most of the archival research, especially with regards to pastoral visitations and payments for the works, has been conducted at the Archipiscopal Archives at Floriana. Most of the documents which I have seen, to

attempt to place the works in their historical background and if possible to know who produced them, were in Latin or Old Italian, apart from the fact that many of the times, the handwriting was undecipherable. Some of these archival documents have been photographed and included in the appendix of this dissertation. Also very relevant to my research area were publications and Cospicua 'Festa' Programmes, which have been produced throughout the years. A list of plates has also been included at the end of the dissertation, for a better understanding of the text and the analysis of the works. This dissertation attempts to create a holistic view of the Cospicua Parish Church, both through the works of more considerable artistic merit but also through the more vernacular ones. I truly hope that with this dissertation, the treasures of the Cospicua Parish Church would be more appreciated and provide an incentive for further research.