As Valletta marked the 450th anniversary of its foundation yesterday, the HSBC Malta Foundation and Din l-Art Ħelwa celebrated the successful conclusion of the complex conservation of the baroque ceiling paintings at the Church of Our Lady of Victory, the first building and first church of Valletta.  

Tradition has it that the foundation stone of the capital city lies within the precincts of Our Lady of Victory Church, which is now again ready to provide the visitor the opportunity to reconnect with this iconic, artistic and spiritual representation of Malta’s heritage after many years of painstaking conservation came to a close last week.

Conservators Lisa Shekede and Steven Rickerby from the Courtauld Institute of Art, London,  were in Malta recently to put the finishing touches to the unique ceiling paintings by the Maltese baroque artist Alessio Erardi, which depict episodes from the life of the Blessed Virgin. 

Since 2012, the HSBC Malta Foundation has donated a total of €400,000 towards saving these monumental works of art, the last tranche of which went towards the installation of specialised lights that highlight the intricacies of Erardi’s work.  

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