The launch of an exhibition of a collection of more than 90 miniature maps and 19 books, depicting plans of Malta and Valletta, and which will be on display at the Ministry for Gozo, will be held on 12 September.
The exhibition, which is the brainchild of Heritage Malta, is being organised in collaboration with the Ministry for Gozo. It will be a unique opportunity for the public to get a closer look at these maps, measuring no more than 10 by 15 centimetres, of Malta and Gozo, and plans for Valletta and the Three Cities.
The greater part of the exhibition comes from the Albert Ganado Map Collection, which was presented to Heritage Malta in July 2008. This unique collection of antique maps is housed at the National Museum of Fine Arts in Valletta.
It was acquired following an agreement between lawyer and historian, Albert Ganado, and the government. The collection, which took over 50 years to compile, is the largest and most complete collection of antique maps of Malta in the world.
Dr Ganado has come to be considered as a world authority on maps and prints of Malta. It is probably the only collection to show the development of certain representations of the Maltese Islands, such as the Great Siege of 1565 and the plans of Valletta.
Many of the maps date back to before 1570, when Abraham Ortelius published the first standard Atlas. Several of them are extremely rare, and in some cases they were printed as single sheets, and only a few of them are left. Some are found only in the Ganado collection.
This collection has added importance as it gives those carrying out research on various aspects of Malta’s historical development an opportunity to look into things such as topography, demography and urban development.
It was handed over to the Maltese government in return for the house where Dr Ganado lives, which was public property. The exchange was approved by Parliament during the 14 July sitting.
The first exhibition of these maps took place last October, at the Auberge de Castille, during the Notte Bianca celebrations. This was a success, as more than 5,000 people visited the exhibition of 10 of the largest, rarest or most beautiful maps of the collection.
This exhibition was intended to illustrate a selection of the 450 different loose maps in the collection passed to Heritage Malta, but the inclusion of a number of miniature maps from books in Dr Ganado’s melitensia collection made it more comprehensive. This distinction is made clear in the catalogue available for sale.
As for the rest of the maps, one comes from the Malta Maritime Museum, some rare ones were contributed by Joseph Schiro, and the exceptionally rare tiny Freschot map comes from the Charles Micallef Attard collection.
Nonetheless this does not mean that this is an exhaustive collection, as a few other miniature maps are known to be in existence, and others will surely crop up in the future.
The exhibition will run until the 11 October at the Ministry for Gozo in Rabat Opening hours are from 8.30am to 12.30pm on weekdays, and on Saturdays from 9am to 12pm. As from the 1 October opening hours are from 8.30am to 4.30pm.
A catalogue complied by Dr Albert Ganado, published by Midsea Books will be available for sale. Entrance to the exhibition is free.