An interesting seminar entitled Arte barocca - tra fede e stupore was recently held at the Italian Cultural Institute in Valletta focusing on the significance and recent restoration of one of the most important artistic achievements of the Baroque age - the Bernini's statue of the Ecstasy of St Teresa of Avila in the Cornaro Chapel of the Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome.

This seminar was the result of the initiative of Professor Denis De Lucca, director of the International Institute for Baroque Studies at the University of Malta who introduced the seminar by delivering an illustrated talk on the importance of the Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria as a commemoration of the landmark Catholic victory of the White Mountain outside Prague, which secured the survival of Catholicism in Bohemia in the wake of a Calvinist uprising. Details about the fascinating links of two specific items in the original contents of this church - a miraculous icon of the Nativity used to bless the Catholic forces at the above-mentioned battle by the Discalced Carmelite friar Domenico di Gesu et Maria and an Ottoman banner captured in a Mediterranean naval encounter with the Hospitaller Order of Malta were spotlighted and a video-clip of the history of this beautiful Baroque church, which was designed by the architects Carlo Maderno and Giovanni Battista Soria under the patronage of Cardinal Scipione Borghese was shown to the audience.

Professor De Lucca's talk was followed by another talk by Dr Theresa Vella who lectures in history of art in the Diploma and Masters courses run by the International Institute for Baroque Studies. Dr Vella addressed a number of issues concerning Gian Lorenzo Bernini's splendid theatrical setting that is the Cornaro Chapel. Here sculpted members of the Venetian Cornaro family are shown looking out of theatre-type boxes, engaged in a discussion about the focal point of attraction - Bernini's Ecstasy of St Teresa, here illuminated in its full glory by the penetration of overhead light from a concealed light well as was commonly done in Baroque sacred architecture. There are several examples of such Baroque light wells in the small churches in Valletta, such as St James, designed by Romano Carapecchia.

The seminar was concluded by talks delivered by Dott. Sante Guido of the University of Trent who has been engaged in a number of restoration projects in Malta and by Dott. Giuseppe Mantella whose team of experienced restorers was responsible for the restoration of the Cornaro Chapel in Santa Maria della Vittoria. While Dott. Guido talked about Gian Lorenzo Bernini in the context of the building of Baroque Rome, Dott. Mantella explained the rigorous restoration procedures that were followed in this superb operation involving one of the most prestigious art works of the splendid Baroque legacy of 17th-century Italy.

The seminar on the Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome, perhaps one of the most representative examples of the "Church Triumphant" of the Baroque age, was one of a series of activities organised by the very active outreach programme of the Institute during the academic year 2014-2015, intended to disseminate knowledge about an age in the history of mankind which has left an important imprint on modern society particularly in urbanism, art and architecture.