An exhibition of baby Jesus figurines will take visitors on a journey through 350 years of the history of this great European and Maltese tradition.

Open at the Auberge de Castille, the display celebrates the way devotion has been married to art and craft since il-Bambin tal-Milied first seeped into Maltese culture in the 17th century.

Some 200 years after the first baby Jesus appeared in Renaissance Italy, the tradition came ashore in the harbour area and soon rippled across the country through religious ordinances.

The exhibition at Castille, however, is not just about the Maltese baby Jesus culture. It tells tales of these traditions in Europe. The cult dates back 600 years, when God’s divinity was given a human dimension in the Renaissance.

The exhibition is open until January 6 between Monday and Friday between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m., while today and during weekends it will open from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. as well as from 4 p.m. until 8 p.m.

It will remain closed this Thursday, this Sunday evening and on December 21.

Special opening times apply for December 19 (from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.) and 25 (from 9 a.m. till noon) and January 1 (from 10 a.m. till noon).