The newly-formed Department of History of Architecture which has now absorbed all the academic and research activities that were formerly handled by the International Institute for Baroque Studies, has facilitated the organisation of an interesting study tour to the Maltese Islands of a group of Swiss architects and academics from the University of Zurich led by architect Thomas Meyer-Wieser who, in association with the Head of the Department, Prof. Denis De Lucca, organised a successful visit to a number of key sites associated with the Baroque culture of the Maltese Islands during the rule of the Hospitaller Order of Malta (1530-1798).
The visit of the University of Zurich group was introduced by the designated coordinator of the visit Dr Claude Busuttil who delivered an illustrated lecture on the architecture of the Order of St John in Malta 1530-1798 and also accompanied the group during their tour to Valletta.
This guided tour organised by the Department of History of Architecture at the University of Malta around Valletta included visits to Francesco Laparelli’s impressive landfront fortifications, the new City Gate and the other buildings associated with the Renzo Piano Project, The Church of St Francis and the Auberge de Provence, in the former Strada San Giorgio, the Manoel Theatre, the Auberge d'Aragon, the Archbishop's Palace and the Hotel de Verdelin. The tour also included visits to the Auberge de Castille, the Church of Our Lady of Victory, the Auberge d'Italie, Palazzo Parisio, Romano Carapecchia’s oval Church of St James, the Castellania, St Paul's Collegiate Church, the Jesuit Church and its Oratories, the Church of Our Lady of Portosalvo, the Church of Santa Caterina d'Italia, and St John's Co-Cathedral, which as the former Conventual Church of the Order of St John in Malta, had started building after the Great Ottoman siege of 1565, to later become, in the subsequent seventeenth and eighteenth centuries a prime showpiece of Maltese Baroque art and architecture.
During the course of the visit to Valletta, the Swiss group was given the opportunity to see the impressive contents of the National Library and the recently set-up Caravaggio Centre and to also appreciate State Rooms and the armoury the Grand Master’s Palace. A lecture entitled "The architectural Legacy of Capitano Francesco Laparelli" was here delivered by Christian Mifsud.
During their October sojourn in Malta, the University of Zurich group was also given the opportunity to experience the Medieval – Baroque transformations of the old city of Mdina and the centre of Rabat and to also visit the neighbouring island of Gozo. In a recently received e-mail to the Head of the Department of History of Architecture, University of Zurich group leader Thomas Meyer-Wieser described the guided tours and the other contributions to the history of Malta as having been “really top and totally professional”, reflecting “a detailed knowledge” of the subject.
