The CARAVAGGIO400 programme aims at celebrating the presence in Malta of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, who arrived here as a fugitive in June 1607. Caravaggio400, an umbrella term under which organisations have been invited to organise Caravaggio-related events, will be spread over 2007 and 2008.
Each institution will be responsible for its own particular event, but the entire programme will be presented as a national programme. This will include, among others, the issue of a commemorative silver ingot and a commemorative coin, lectures and seminars by international experts, restoration projects by the Caravaggio Foundation and Heritage Malta, an exhibition of representations in salt of six Caravaggio paintings on the Passion and Resurrection of Christ, an exhibition on Caravaggio and Caravaggisti and an issue of commemorative stamps.
The institutions involved in organising the events include St John’s Foundation, Heritage Malta, University of Malta, Lombard Bank, the Caravaggio Foundation,
The Education Ministry, Maltapost, Malta Police Force, the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts and the Tourism and Culture Ministry.
The Valletta local council, the Valletta Rehabilitation Project (VRP), the Italian Embassy and Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM) are collaborating on various initiatives.
A national calendar of events is being coordinated by the Tourism and Culture Ministry, the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts and the Caravaggio Foundation, who came up with this initiative, together with the support of the University of Malta.
A new website, www.caravaggio400.com, including the national programme of Caravaggio400 events has also been launched.
Within this extraordinarily charged setting and until his dramatic escape in October 1608, his stay in Malta provided the artist with his only long and real moments of tranquility, a period when the artist reflected on both his life and his work.
In Malta, Caravaggio was invested with the habit of a Knight of Magistral Obedience. At his investiture ceremony in July 1608, the city of Valletta was crowning the most famous artist in the western world.
On this occasion, admiration for Caravaggio’s work was deliberately spelled out, as was also the expectation that his art would be a
vehicle for the glorification of the Knights of Malta.