An excellent exhibition

I have just returned from the inauguration of the exhibition Teżori ta' Għawdex fil-Biblioteka Nazzjonali ta' Malta - Treasures of Gozo in the National Library of Malta, set up within the exhibition hall of the Ministry for Gozo.

It is indeed one of the major exhibitions to be held in Gozo and certainly the most significant. Exhibits range from written to pictorial documents, from military plans to detailed designs of St John the Baptist Hospital, now the ministry and the venue of the exhibition itself.

Place of honour goes to the 1745 manuscript Gozo antico-moderno e sacro profano, the history of Gozo by G.P.F. Agius de Soldanis, a Gozitan appointed by the Grandmaster as the first national librarian-cum-archivist.

The earliest document is the proposal of June 8, 1470 by the Università of Gozo, a form of regional government, regarding the appointment of a consul for Gozo at Licata.

The most attractive is the full set of 19 watercolour paintings on the excavations of Ġgantija temples by Charles Frederick de Brochtorff from the 1820s. It is the first time that they are being exhibited all together.

Those present had nothing but words of praise for this really excellent exhibition. I am certain I am expressing the feelings of one and all in thanking Gozo Minister Giovanna Debono and national librarian Philip Borg, who made possible the setting up of this exhibition in Gozo. Words of thanks are also due to John Cremona, the person behind the project, and to Maroma Camilleri, the archivist at the National Library, both of whom are not satisfied but with the very best.