Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar is very grateful for the coverage in Times of Malta of our project to restore the four-panel mediaeval altarpiece at the Augustinian Priory, in Rabat. However, it is pertinent to point out that the restoration has only just begun and is not completed as many thought.

Painted on wood in the early 15th century (circa 1425), the four surviving panels, which probably came from a larger polyptych, feature Saint Augustine, Saint Paul, Saint Catherine of Siena and the Madonna suckling the Christ child on the central panel.

This altarpiece is thought to rank among Malta’s foremost art treasures due to the fine quality of the work in a country where so few pieces of mediaeval art are to be found.

The information carried in the article was quoted from Mario Buhagiar’s book The Late Medieval Art and Architecture of the Maltese Islands.

The panels are in a poor state of conservation and this was precisely why FAA stepped in because if urgent restoration is not done the panels will deteriorate even further.

The conservation/restoration project is being carried out by a highly qualified conservator-restorer who has studied in Paris, Rome, Florence and Valencia, together with a multi-disciplinary team made up of an art historian, conservation scientists and wood specialists.

The job is expected to take a number of years.

Given that this is an extremely costly restoration project, members of the public wishing to contribute to it are invited to do so on: bit.ly/FAArestoration.

FAA would like to take this opportunity to thank the Farsons Foundation for its contribution to this project.

It would also like to invite other corporate sponsors to include it in their corporate social responsibility fund by contacting the undersigned at astridvella@faa.org.mt.