The photographs were taken by five of Malta’s most prominent local professional photographers who were commissioned by the Maltese Chamber of Architects & Civil Engineers (Kamra tal-Periti) and the National Trust of Malta (Din l-Art Helwa) in order to capture the meaning and the beauty of the Modernist movement.
All buildings on display embody unique qualities of the Modernist movement, be it in the articulation of space, the massing of built form or the programming of colour. Together, the selected buildings are a testimony to the sense of architectural exploration which emerged at a time when Malta was coming to terms with a completely new identity, purpose and role in the family of nations. These buildings are tourism related properties, ecclesiastical sites, industrial and commercial developments, and private residences.
The photographers shot, amongst others, pictures of some of the country’s most remarkable schools, including the Qala School, the Msida primary school, as well as post war industrial and commercial buildings such as the Toyota Building, the Mellieha Holiday Centre Hotel (the Danish Village) and the Rediffusion House in G’Mangia. Other notable works of architecture to be presented in the exhibition include the well known and highly accomplished Manikata Church as well as several individual residences.
Visitors to the exhibition will see a timeline of the period, incorporating all the arts including painting, sculpture and literature, in order to help the public fully comprehend the context of the period under examination.
The catalogue of the exhibition Modernist Malta: The Legacy in Architecture was funded by the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts, and includes a comprehensive selection of the photographers’ work as well as two significant essays: a historical account of Modernist architecture in Malta by leading architectural historian Perit Conrad Thake and a personal record of Modernist architecture as seen through the eyes of the architects themselves written by Petra Bianchi, director and council member of Din l-Art Helwa.