Why did the Knights of St John feel the need to build a small church next to an existing, perfectly adequate one over St Paul's Grotto? Why does the façade of St Paul's parish church in Rabat have a roman cross on one side and the eight pointed one on the other?
The answers to these and many other historical questions can be found by visiting the Wignacourt 'College' at Rabat, which the Knights built to house the chaplains who looked after the sacred grotto. The college, now turned into a museum, houses priceless artefacts such as old paintings, ceramics, coins, medals, pottery, ancient maps and books, sacred vestments, medallions, furniture, sculptures and contemporary art. It also displays a unique portable altar used to say Mass on the Knights' galleys, as well as the first car owned by Malta's archbishops.
Although hundreds of tourists visit the grotto and its museum every month, few Maltese do, mainly because they are unaware of its existence and the treasures it holds. To try to remedy this, the Maltese National Commission for UNESCO (MNC-UNESCO) teamed up with the museum's curator, Mgr John Azzopardi, and Dr Yosanne Vella, a senior lecturer of History at the University of Malta, to develop a project aimed at promoting the museum among Maltese students.
The project consists of an Education Room set up with the assistance of volunteer helper John Xerri, a teacher's resource book, and other resources that seek to turn a school visit from an ordinary tour to a hands-on educational experience; it transforms students from mere spectators to active participants in their own learning.
In the Education Room, which teachers can use as a classroom, visitors can trace the origins of the artefacts displayed in the museum against a historical time-chart covering the span from pre-history to modern times.
Students can also experiment with reproductions and models of some original exhibits that are too precious to be handled.
MNC-UNESCO, which funded the project, has distributed the teacher's book to all schools in Malta. It contains suggestions on how teachers can prepare their class for a visit, as well as on how to conduct pedagogical tasks and activities on site.
Additional teacher's books can be purchased at the museum or downloaded free of charge from the MNC-UNESCO website www.unescomalta.org.
The concept of the Education Room, teacher's resource book and other resources at the Wignacourt Museum is based on the widely-recognised fact that the learning potential of school-visits to historical sites can be enormously enhanced if done imaginatively.
In fact, this is the third MNC-UNESCO project in the 'Learning history on site' series, the other two being at the Inquisitor's Palace in Vittoriosa (February 2005) and at the Tarxien Temples (June 2006).
While all visitors will benefit from the Education Room and other resources, they are particularly suitable for secondary school students, especially those following the 'Malta under the Order' topic in the SEC O-level syllabus. Even students who have not chosen the History option will benefit as they will better understand and enjoy the 'Heritage left for us by the Order of St John' topic of their general syllabus.
School visits can be booked by phoning the Wignacourt Museum on 2145 1060.
Prof. Farrugia is chairman, Maltese National Commission for UNESCO.