Following their highly successful presentation in 2013 regarding the 'Delights and Delapidations of Selmun', Professor Anthony Bonanno and Judge Joe Galea Debono will be opening the Din l-Art Helwa autumn series of cultural talks with another joint lecture this time focussing on the military fortifications and sites of archaeological interest to be found along the upper Victoria Lines.
The talk entitled 'The Upper North-West Front - Military and Archaeological Sites' will be illustrated with stunning photos from the two lecturers taken during their walks over the Victoria Lines from the Dwejra Lines to Fomm ir-Rih Bay along the old War Department Road. The lecture will be held on Thursday 8 October 2015 at 6.30pm and will end at 8pm at the Judge Caruana Curran Hall, at 133 Melita Street, Valletta. Admission is free of charge but a donation to Din l-Art Helwa's restoration projects would be much appreciated.
Retired Judge Joseph Galea Debono B.A (Hons)., LL.D read History , English and Italian Literature at the Royal University of Malta graduating Bachelor of Arts "magna cum laude" in 1964. He graduated Doctor of Laws in 1967 and was called to the Maltese Bar in 1968 where he practiced till 2002 when he was raised to the bench. He was Secretary General of the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association between 1969 and 1995 when he was appointed Chairman of the National Tourism Organisation Malta (NTOM). Throughout his career he remained attached to his first love - military history and has conducted extensive research on the subject in his free time. He is currently a council member of Din l-Art Helwa, the Honorary Secretary of the Malta Aviation Museum Foundation and the President of the George Cross Island Association.
Prof. Anthony Bonanno, B.A. (Hons) (Malta), D. Lett. (Palermo), Ph.D. (London), F.S.A. is Professor of Archaeology at the University of Malta. He has lectured at the University of Malta in Archaeology and Classics since 1971. He has also conducted lecturing visits to various universities in Europe, the United States, Zimbabwe and Egypt. Besides being a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, he has been appointed "corresponding member" of the Institutum Archaeologicum Germanicum and of the Archaeological Institute of America. He has served on various national boards and committees, including the Planning Authority (1992-1998), Heritage Malta (2004-2011) and the Scientific Committee for the Conservation of the Megalithic Temples (2004 to date). Prof. Bonanno has served on the Council of Din L-Art Ħelwa for more than three decades and has been the organisation's Executive President between 1999 and 2001.