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maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 30 SEPTEMBER 2015 17 Events Extended service for Marsamxetto ferry during Notte Bianca MARSAMXETTO Steam Ferry Service would like to announce that the ferry service between Valletta /Sliema and Valletta / Three Cities will be extended until 2am (Sunday 4 October) for the 'Notte Bianca' event be- ing held in Valletta on Saturday 3 October 2015. The last ferry will leave Val- letta for both routes at 2am. For more information please visit www.vallettaferryservices. com HSBC revitalises Ghar Ilma in Gozo A newly constructed viewing point by HSBC Malta over an his- toric aqueduct starting from Għar Ilma site in Gozo, attracted the at- tention of hundreds of Skola Sajf students who toured the heritage site as part of a cultural visit. Built in the 1880s, the aqueduct runs from Għar Ilma cave in San- ta Lucija to the Victoria Capuchin convent, where local administra- tors were determined to build an entranceway for visitors. HSBC Bank Malta donated €5,700 towards the completion of the project, as part of the HSBC Malta Water Programme – Catch the Drop water conservation cam- paign. HSBC Malta Water Programme coordinator Glenn Bugeja said, "HSBC Malta's inter- est in the project lay in the fact that Għar Ilma enjoys historic significance on a na- tional level, and that opening access to it would bring about greater awareness among our children. We hope that by vis- iting Għar Ilma chil- dren will develop a renewed sense of appreciation for water when they learn how our ancestors used to harvest water as a precious re- source." Minister for Gozo Dr Anton Re- falo recently visited the site in the company of officials from Santa Lucija Administrative Council and HSBC Water Programme, who outlined the features of the site. Student visit to Għar Ilma was but one of a number of activities organised by HSBC Malta as part of Skola Sajf 2015. Almost 700 Gozitan students participated in the Skola Sajf 2015 activities that were organised by the HSBC Wa- ter Programme – Catch the Drop campaign specifically for Gozo. FIMBANK has been awarded the prestigious Deutsche Bank 2014 EUR Straight Through Payment (STP) Excellence Award, in rec- ognition for the exceptional quality of payment messages generated by FIMBank through- out 2014. This is the ninth successive year that FIMBank has received this award. The award is based on meas- ured STP rates, which are con- sidered the most important in- dicator for quality in the field of payment transactions. These also ref lect the degree of auto- mation within the financial in- stitution. Commenting on this achievement, Maria Said, Head of Payment Orders and Central Customer Operations stated, "FIMBank 's Payment Order team is trained to ensure that customer payments are proc- essed and settled cost effective- ly and in the shortest possible time. The Deutsche Bank Ex- cellence Award recognises the quality of the service delivered by the Bank 's personnel and our consistently high SWIFT stand- ards in payment processing. "We are very proud that the quality of our work has been ac- knowledged by one of the largest and most prestigious financial institutions in the world." Charles Wallbank, Head of Op- erations, added, "The fact that FIMBank has received the Deut- sche Bank Excellence Award for the ninth successive year says a lot about how our service is per- ceived by our peers internation- ally. "Apart from recognising the high level of our operational performance in the generation of payments, this awards re- f lects the Bank 's commitment to excellence through continued investment in leading technol- ogy, the creation of a dynamic work environment and most importantly, the development of our specialist personnel." For more information about FIMBank, please visit w w w.fim- bank.com. FIMBank awarded STP Excellence Award Maria Said and Charles Wallbank from FIMBank with Raquel Estevez, Director Global Transaction Banking, Deutsche Bank Medallic portraits of the Grand Masters on exhibit at the CBM Currency Museum during Notte Bianca THE Currency Museum of the Central Bank of Malta has set up a special exhibition entitled "Medallic Portraits of the Grand Masters of Malta". It brings to- gether some very important and rarely seen portrait coins and medals from the National Col- lection, courtesy of Heritage Malta, private collections, and from the Bank 's own collection. The exhibition will be one of the main highlights which the public may see when visiting the Central Bank of Malta during the Notte Bianca. It will remain open during October and may be visited during the Bank 's busi- ness hours. Antonio Pisano, known as Pis- anello, produced the first por- trait medal in 1438. This art-form which f lourished in Renaissance Italy was inf luenced by classic art, including the portraits of Ro- man emperors which appeared on large bronze sestertii. The Order of St John's first medallic portrait ap- peared in 1513 on a silver medal produced to mark the election of Grand Master Fabrizio Del Carretto. The next medallic portrait, the first to appear on the Order's coinage, was that on a zecchino of Grand Master Philippe Villiers de l'Isle Adam. Following this, por- traiture on the Order's coinage was discontin- ued, until the portrait of Grand Master Jean Paul Lascaris appeared on the Order's first gold two zecchini piece is- sued in 1641. It was not until the time of Grand Master Ra- mon Perellos (1697- 1720) that portraits of the Grand Masters started to appear regularly, first on high value gold coins and later on silver coins as well. The earliest known medal produced by a Grand Master of Malta is that of Juan de Homedes (1536- 53). Most of the other Grand Masters of Malta, with only a few exceptions, is- sued medals. Jean de Valette was the first Grand Master to appear on a medal wearing armour. Most of the Order's medals were made of bronze or silver. Early medals were cast but, by the 16th century some medals started being struck like coins. However, the casting technique was still favoured by some artists as demonstrated by an impres- sive oval medallion produced in 1670 by Grand Master Nicholas Cotoner to mark the start of the construction of the Cottonera Lines. In Italy the cast medal en- joyed a revival in the school set up in Florence by Massimiliano Soldani Benzi, who was commis- sioned to produce a fine set of large medals cast in bronze for Grand Master Anton Manoel de Vilhena during the period 1723- 25. In 1702 France issued the first "medallic history", which, in 1723, was reissued in an expand- ed form comprising 318 medals. The medals glorified King Louis XIV, who embodied the State, and his acts. The "medallic his- tory" was an important and in- f luential innovation, which was subsequently emulated by other monarchs. In 1780 Paolo Paciau- di (1710-85), a historiographer of the Order of St John, proposed a series of medals to serve as a medallic history of the Order, but nothing ever came out of this proposal. By the turn of the 18th century, the medal had evolved from be- ing a means to record a personal portrait to a medium to com- memorate and publicise facts and events. The Grand Masters of Malta were conscious of the propagandistic role of medals, which fulfilled the roles of por- traying them as benevolent sov- ereigns engaged in an unending fight with the enemies of Chris- tendom, and to perpetuate their name and deeds into the future. YOUR FIRST CLICK OF THE DAY www.maltatoday.com.mt