Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1506016
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 20 AUGUST 2023 4 CULTURE This article is supported by Arts Council Malta Exhibition traces development of the Auberge and the Langue of Italy OLD documents, models, and artefacts that usually form part of the national reserve collec- tion are on display at an espres- so exhibition which takes visi- tors through a sensory voyage tracing the development of the Auberge d'Italie as a building, and the Langue which inhabit- ed it between 1576 and 1798. The exhibition, entitled The Langue of Italy: Building an Identity, is being held at MUŻA, the National Community Art Museum, which is housed pre- cisely in what used to be the Auberge d'Italie. Few MUŻA visitors are aware of this his- toric palace's unique and rich past. Before becoming MUŻA, the palace served multiple us- es, but its original purpose was to serve as the Auberge of the Langue of Italy of the Order of St John. The development of the pal- ace is intertwined with the history of the Langue, whose archives are now scattered in multiple locations, particularly in Malta and Rome. These have recently been identified and re- constructed, and the exhibition presents some of them in their original archival space for the first time since the time of the Knights. Although the Italian Langue has long left the auberge, the building still preserves and communicates stories of the people who lived within those walls. Their experiences shaped and transformed the place as we experience it today, and it is these echoes of the past that the exhibition seeks to recall. This exhibition forms part of a comprehensive project en- titled Stories of the Auberge d'Italie: Faces, facets, façades, whose scope is to explore this key historic institution within a contextualised historic urban and institutional landscape. The project combines the in- dividual research carried out by the four project members, Valentina Burgassi, Emanuel Buttigieg, Christian Mifsud and Valeria Vanesio, to provide a new multidisciplinary perspec- tive with the aim of investigat- ing the building, its uses and functions, the institutional and archival contexts, as well as the social narratives. The main goal is to outline a multidisciplinary methodology that can serve to explore the other Langues and auberges in an innovative way. The project is funded by the Internationalisation Partner- ship Awards Scheme Plus (IP- AS+) 2022 of the Malta Council for Science and Technology. Heritage Malta supported the project through all its different stages. The National Library of Malta is collaborating and lending the original documents of the Langue and the Order of St John for this exhibition. The Malta Study Center (Hill Museum and Manuscript Li- brary) is also supporting the project by digitising and host- ing the exhibited records of the Langue on the online platform vHMML.org. This will serve to foster research and future col- laborative projects. The exhibition also incorpo- rates models created through the I-Aċċess project (UM). Heritage Malta's Chairman, Mario Cutajar, and the Rector of the University of Malta, Prof. Alfred J. Vella, were shown around the exhibition soon af- ter its inauguration. The Langue of Italy: Building an Identity is aimed at all those who wish to learn more about this building as an auberge and its stories. A booklet about the exhibition may be purchased from MUŻA. The exhibition runs until the 24th of Septem- ber.