Snapshots from the battles of the knights

"The bombardment of La Goletta started on July 14, 1535. The ships taking part in the bombardment approached the fortifications in line with the galleys...

"Then came the higher ships such as the galleons and the Venetian carrack Grimaldi while the (carrack) Sant Anna, which had the highest freeboard and the most powerful guns, brought up the rear... One of her broadsides brought down a good portion of La Goletta's bastions..."

The Sant Anna, which belonged to the knights of the Order of St John and had six decks, two of which were below water level, could easily have carried a crew of 1,000.

This vivid description by maritime historian Joseph Muscat in his book The Carrack Of The Order of St John recalls the series of intriguing paintings at the Zabbar Sanctuary Museum depicting the battles fought by the knights of St John.

The paintings were done by Oratio Italo Serge on commission by Mgr Guzeppi Zarb, then parish priest at Zabbar, in the 1960s.

At the time, Mgr Zarb was researching the battles waged by the knights of St John particularly those connected with the devotion to Our Lady of Graces, patron of Zabbar.

To illustrate his book Is-Santwarju Ta' Haz-Zabbar Fi Zmien Il-Kavallieri, published in 1969, Mgr Zarb made use of as many ex voto and other paintings as he could and supplemented these with the paintings he commissioned Serge to do. Fifty of over 60 paintings dealing with the sea battles are housed at the Zabbar Sanctuary Museum.

According to Guzeppi Theuma, author of the PIN publication L-Arti Fil-Knejjes Minn Mitt Pittur Malti, Serge was born on October 13, 1906 in Valletta. Although his parents wanted him to become a doctor he went to Rome to study art and later spent some time in Argentina and then moved to Tunis where, in 1935, he married Giuseppina Perrera who was born in La Goletta, Tunis.

Serge returned to Malta in 1953 and in the 1960s he befriended the painter Guzeppi Caruana who at the time was working on his last piece of work, the painting of the apse of the Rosary at Zabbar parish church.

As Caruana was losing his eyesight, more than helping him, Serge actually did the paintings in the apse to a design by Caruana.

The Zabbar Sanctuary Museum is open throughout the week between 9 a.m. and noon.