Heritage Malta’s subject at its next public lecture will be the military engineering genius of Girolamo Cassar – Prof. Roger Vella Bonavita will be delivering the lecture, entitled ‘The Genius of Girolamo Cassar as a Military Engineer’ at Heritage Malta’s head office in Merchants Street, Valletta on Tuesday at 6.30pm. The lecture will be in English.

Girolamo Cassar is well known as the architect of various baroque buildings, particularly in Valletta. What may be less known is the fact that he was left in charge of the fortifications of Valletta after the departure of Francesco Laparelli.

Prof. Vella Bonavita will show various designs depicting Cassar’s vision for the entrance to Valletta. These historical designs will be presented within the ongoing discussion on what the Valletta gate should look like - Renzo Piano’s design, the gate as built by the British or the original one of the 16th century?

Prof. Vella Bonavita, a former University of Malta lecturer and project manager for various organisations in Malta and Australia, is known for his interest in modern Maltese history, especially in the fortifications of Malta, and for his keen support of original historical research at all levels. He is currently carrying out historical research on the papers of Francesco Laparelli da Cortona as part of his doctoral thesis with the University of Malta.

Admission to the lecture is free and the public is invited.