Art and architecture in late medieval Malta

'The Late Medieval Art and Architecture of the Maltese Islands' is the latest book published by Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti. The book, according to Noel Grima, is an honest account of "how Malta in late medieval times was far removed from the ongoing processes of European civilisation":

..Commenting on the importance of this study, Patrimonju’s general editor said: “Once again Patrimonju was very pleased to have been entrusted with this exceptional work, which is essentially the result of a whole academic career devoted to this area.” This will be the standard reference book for the next 20 years or so, Dr Xuereb added. With his 1987 book, The Iconography of the Maltese Islands, Prof. Buhagiar had broken new ground. The new volume is more limited in scope and explains Maltese progress within the context of what was happening in southern Italy and Sicily.

Prof. Reece, who came over from the UK specifically for this book launch also commended the work, and its “importance in conceptualising Malta’s medieval artistic heritage, and putting it in its rightful Mediterranean context”. Prof. Reece took a rather different viewpoint. “This is a very comprehensive study,” he said, “which includes virtually everything that can even remotely be connected to art and architecture, including caves and stones.” It is a very honest book, which not everyone will appreciate, for it shows how Malta in late medieval times was far removed from the ongoing processes of European civilisation, being as it was the farthest bastion of Christianity in the Mediterranean.

Prof. Reece praised Prof. Buhagiar for being very honest with his readers: he distinguishes between facts and opinions and presents his opinions as tentative, acknowledging that some people may reason otherwise. He is also very generous with his attributions in the footnotes and even acknowledges contributions from his own students...Basically, the book looks at Malta in an era when it was still on the outside edge of Christendom, when ideas did start to filter south but in a glorious jumble, successive waves all lying side by side.