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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 28 SEPTEMBER 2014 40 THIS WEEK Preview of children's festival at Notte Bianca Audiences will have a chance to sample this year's edition of the Ziguzajg children's festival at Notte Bianca THIS year, Żigużajg, the Interna- tional Arts Festival for Children and Young People, will be running its own children's and family area at the Upper Barrakka Gardens as part of Notte Bianca – taking place around the streets of Val- letta on 4 October. The programme for the evening will also provide a special preview of this year's Żigużajg. Highlights include Michael Galea and band, Trevor Zahra, Govann Attard with the Drama Unit and Xarulu with guest musicians Peter Paul and Antoine from Tribali, who will alternate on the main stage between 19:00 and 21:45. Meanwhile, in the surrounding area, animations will be project- ed as part of a project by Ruben Zahra, Vee Stivala will entertain children with a puppet show and the St James Animation team will run an art workshop. This year's Żigużajg – now in its fourth edition – will run between 17-23 November. With a rich pro- gramme of Maltese and interna- tional artistic performances, this is the only festival in Malta where children and young people are truly centre stage. Parents are advised that the event will be filmed and photo- graphed. For more information log on to ht tps://w w w.facebook.com/zig u- zajg, w w w.ziguzajg.org Trevor Zahra reading to children at last year's edition of Ziguzajg. Photo by Elisa von Brockdorff French Siege Ingot on display at Central Bank of Malta during Notte Bianca THE Central Bank of Malta re- cently acquired a rare silver ingot, dating back to the French period in Malta. After decades of obscu- rit y, the ingot will go on display for the first time, during the an- ticipated Notte Bianca event on 4 October at the Central Bank of Malta, as part of the Bank 's nu- mismatic display. In May, 1798 Napoleon Bona- parte, at the head of an invasion army, embarked from the French port of Toulon bound for Egypt. En route the French f leet stopped in Malta and requested access to the Grand Harbour to replenish its supply of water. The Order of St John refused to let the French ships enter the Grand Harbour en masse. Napoleon used this as a pretext to launch his premeditated invasion of Malta on 9 June, 1798. Amidst betrayal and confusion, the Order's feeble defence col- lapsed and the island surrendered after three days. Between 12 and 18 June, 1798, Napoleon spent seven eventful days in Malta. During this period, various laws were promulgated, which were to lead to a complete overhaul of the local administra- tion and institutions to bring them in line with the French republican model. Widespread fundamental changes affected all strata of Mal- tese societ y and were the cause of much dissent. On 2 September 1798, the Mal- tese revolted against the French, who were blockaded inside Vallet- ta and the fortified cities of Cot- tonera. Following this, the French commanding general, Vaubois, stripped the Monte di Pieta of all its money and pawns, which at the time amounted to 443,484 scudi, to maintain the French garrison and the inhabitants of Valletta during the blockade. At the time, the French authori- ties in Malta were facing an acute shortage of coinage. In his diary of the blockade, Bosredon Ran- sijat wrote that "the minting of coins had to be suspended owing to the lack of certain objects in- dispensable to continue the strik- ing of these". Vaubois therefore decided "to manufacture ingots, the intrinsic value of which was to correspond exactly to that which they purported to represent and which would thus not cause any loss to those who wished to ex- change them in whatever country they found themselves in". In January/February of 1799, Vaubois ordered the gold and sil- ver seized from the Monte di Pie- ta to be melted and cast into bars. The bars were then divided into small ingots, each of which was stamped with its intrinsic value in scudi, tari and grani diagonally across the centre. According to a statement by Joachim Lebrun, the Master of the Mint, the first casting of gold bars took place on 5 February 1799. A total of 28 ingots of different weights were produced, which amounted to around 10,046 scudi. It appears, however, that the in- gots from the first casting were never put into circulation as cur- rency. A second casting of gold ingots took place on 8 July 1799. In this operation 376 small gold ingots were cast, with a total value of around 30,806 scudi. It is record- ed that 364 were issued in circula- tion and 12 were retained to meet the expenses of the Master of the Mint. All the ingots from this casting bear the alphabetical let- ter "I". The 3441 lbs of silver confiscat- ed from the Monte di Pieta were melted and converted into 4285 ingots, for a total value of around 80,834 scudi. The first casting of silver ingots took place on 16 April 1799. In all there were 14 casting operations, each of which was identified by a different let- ter from "A" to "P" (letters "I" and "J" were not used on silver ingots). The casting operation letter was stamped on the upper corner of the ingots. All the ingots were stamped with a lion rampart in an oval frame. The edges where the ingot had been removed from the bar were stamped with paschal lamb to prevent fraud. Although the exact intrinsic value was stamped on the ingots, there were instances when these unusual and crude forms of money were refused or accorded a lower value by profiteers. To stop such practices Vaubois issued a procla- mation on 24 April, 1799 in which he declared that ingots had to be received and exchanged as money at the value imprinted on them. Refusing the ingots, according them a lower value, or refusing to give change when payments were made in ingots, became an offence which incurred a penalt y equal to the value of the ingot refused. Only one gold and seven silver ingots have remained from all the ingots produced by the French during the blockade. The gold in- got and two silver ingots form part of the National Collection of Mal- ta. A further silver ingot is held in the collections of the British Museum and another two silver ingots are found at the museum of the Venerable Order of St John at Clerkenwell, UK. In 1903, Brause Manfeld recorded another silver ingot, and in 1956 Victor Denaro found another silver ingot, which had been in the collection of An- gelo Galea of Mosta. Historical note by Kevin Cassar, the Curator of the Numismatic Collection at the Central Bank of Malta during Notte Bianca