Headless statue
The façade of the former Lyceum building in Valletta, now housing the head office of Heritage Malta, was lately given a facelift. However nails and pipes which are not functioning any more have not been removed. It was only a superficial scratch and...
The façade of the former Lyceum building in Valletta, now housing the head office of Heritage Malta, was lately given a facelift. However nails and pipes which are not functioning any more have not been removed. It was only a superficial scratch and scrape.
Besides, the statue of St Ignatius of Loyola, which graces the main entrance, is still without a head - a very shoddy restoration!
Originally, on the façade were two coat-of-arms which were presumably defaced during the French occupation (1798-1800). One would suggest that these were the armorial bearings of the French Grand Master Hughes Loubenx de Verdalle (1582-1595) and of the Catalan Bishop of Malta, Fra Tomaso Gargallo (1578-1614), both of whom spared no effort to bring the Jesuits to Malta who eventually set up the Collegium Melitense in 1592, which later became the University.