Crowds throng Carmelite priory on open day

Over 2,000 people made the best of the sunshine yesterday and swarmed to the Mdina Carmelite priory's open day.

Art historian Keith Sciberras, who forms part of the Provincial Commission for Cultural Heritage, set up to oversee the renovation of the place, described the open day as "an overwhelming success".

Tourists in the silent city also stopped to pay the beautiful 300-year-old building and its artworks a visit.

When the friars opened the doors at 10 a.m. they found a queue of people waiting to lose themselves in the silence of the place and see for themselves how Carmelite friars would spend their day.

Some of the visitors turned up clutching copies of The Times asking if that was the place featured in last Thursday's edition.

Mdina resident Maria Consiglia Farrugia happened to be passing by the priory when she saw an open day notice and decided to walk in.

She believes opening up such sites to the public is a good idea - keeping them alive would prevent them from falling victim to decay and more people would be encouraged to take up a vocation.

She said she has been living in Mdina for the past 38 years and it was not her first visit to the priory.

Thomas King, of Colchester, holidaying here until Sunday, was touring Mdina and walked into the priory.

He was awed, he said, by the beauty of Maltese architecture, especially in Mdina and Valletta, and being able to visit a place which was usually closed to visitors was an added bonus.

Dr Sciberras said yesterday that the idea behind the open day was to generate public interest in the priory and in the church.

The Carmelites and Discalced Carmelites plan to start running an Institute for Spirituality and Mariology in December and use the ground floor as a museum, which would reflect monastic life while showing its artistic patrimony.

From yesterday's open day, they wanted to gauge the public's response to the possibility of running a museum while raising funds for restoration.

The restoration of both the place and its works of art is a long-term project. The restoration of the refectory, a five-year project, began in January. The restoration of the church's roof has been going on for five years and is scheduled to be completed in another three. Paintings and other works also need to be restored.

Construction on the Carmelite church in Villegaignon Street began in 1660 and was completed around 1675.

The artistic heritage includes works by Stefano Erardi, Michele Bellanti, Giuseppe CalG and Mattia Preti.

The priory, which is adjacent to the church, was designed by Lorenzo Gafà and started to be built in 1678.

It includes a cloister and a refectory, and is built on two levels with four wings surrounding a central courtyard.

The church is open for viewing on Wednesdays from 3.30 to 5 p.m. and on the first Sunday of each month from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 3.30 to 6 p.m.