A beautifully restored 230-year-old statue dedicated to Our Lady of Mount Carmel will be unveiled at a musico-literary event that will be held this evening at the Sanctuary Basilica of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Valletta.

The statute is taken out of the basilica every year for the feast, which is celebrated on 16 July, and attracts various Carmelite devotees from a number of localities.

The statue was preceded by two others which were financed by means of funds raised by the brothers of the Confraternity of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. This third statute is property of the Valletta Carmelite Community.

It is known for certain that in 1657, the first statue already featured in the annual feast, and although the sculptor is unknown, it was probably made in Rome. It is an extremely artistic statue and is conserved in a niche on an altar at the oratory of the Confraternity of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

The same fraternity brought another statue from Naples in 1780, but there were disagreements as to where the statue would be kept, so a decision was taken for another statue to be commissioned, and the statue that was brought from Naples was taken to the Balluta church and is still used in the annual procession every last Sunday of July.

The third statue, which has been restored by Publius Magro, was featured in the feast for the first time on 16 July 1782, 230 years ago. Up till a few years ago, everyone thought that like the second statue, this one was also brought from Naples, but Dr John Debono found notarial documents that showed that the sculptor was Vincenzo Dimech, from Valletta, who was the uncle of another Vincenzo Dimech, who had made the statue of St Publius (Floriana).

The sculptor was commissioned to make the statue out of wood and the work had to be completed within five months. Fr Michele Angelo Chircop paid for the statue with the money he received for his homilies. The gilding work was carried out around 1880 in preparation for the big feasts that took place the following year for the launch of the painting of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. The gilding was the work of Antonio Gauci, who owned a shop in St Paul’s Street. He was also responsible for the gilding of the statues of St Paul (Valletta) and St Publius (Floriana).

According to restorer Publius Magro, the gilding is a work of art in itself because it is different to that of many other statues around Malta as it includes a lot of beautiful floral designs painted on the dress.

Both the statue and the sanctuary were always the centre of the devotion of Carmelites from different localities. In fact, altars in a number of churches are dedicated to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and the statue features in various pilgrimages.

Professor Anastasju Cuschieri had said: “If you want the sanctuary to fill up with devotees, ring the large bell and move the statue.” This is true, because the statue always attracted a large number of faithful Catholics and devotees.

The restorer has been working tirelessly on the statue since last November. It was badly damaged due to the wood having shrunk over time. The statue’s pedestal was restored by volunteers Charlie Pace and Ryan Catania, who said that the work involved a number of processes aimed at protecting the pedestal from further damage in the coming years.

The restoration project will draw to a close at tonight’s musico-literary event, which takes place at the Sanctuary Basilica of Our Lady of Mount Carmel at 7.30pm. The participants include the Valletta Ensemble Orchestra and the Kor Sancto Sepulcrum.

A limited edition of a commemorative booklet featuring historic photos and information on the restoration project and on the statue is being issued for this occasion. The musico-literary evening will be the first in a series of events that will be held for the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, which draws to a close on Monday 16 July.

For further information visit the sanctuary’s website http://talkarmnuvalletta.webs.com/index.htm or the Facebook page ‘Festa Madonna tal-Karmnu – Valletta’.