An interesting development in the publication of recent Melitensia is a growing niche of works on religious effigies in the Maltese islands. Among them, the 2020 National Book Prize winner in the Biographical and Historiographical category, Ir-Redentur: History, Art, Cult (Midsea Books, 2019) as well as two more contenders longlisted for this year’s National Book Prize.

In this week’s program we met Fr Martin Micallef, author of Crux Invicta, the editor of Ta’ Ġieżu Crucifix, Christian Attard, and the photographer of the book Ir-Redentur: History, Art, Cult, Joe P. Borg.

We spoke to them about the research that went into each book, the ways in which scientific methods intertwine with faith, the restoration of the effigies, the lost documents that prompted the research, the importance of the photography in such books, and the breadth of social, religious, and intellectual life which these books reveal to us.

Books discussed in this episode:

Crux Invicta (Midsea Books)

Ta’ Ġieżu Crucifix (Arċikonfraternità tas-Santissmu Kurċifiss)

Ir-Redentur: History, Art, Cult (Midsea Books)

 


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