Palazzo Falson Historic House Museum in Mdina together with the Department of Art and Art History at the University of Malta recently organised a symposium to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of the birth of professor Quentin Hughes.
Hughes, who passed away in 2004, was an architect and architectural historian who headed the School of Architecture at the Royal University of Malta in 1968 and is best remembered as being a pioneer in the study of architectural history in Malta.
The event, held in the Grand Ballroom of the Phoenicia Hotel on February 29, brought together eight speakers, who covered all aspects of Hughes’s life. They shared personal anecdotes, appreciations of his research and notes about his duty during World War II.
Also present was Quentin’s wife, Jo, who travelled to Malta specifically for the occasion.
During the opening address, Caroline Tonna, curator of Palazzo Falson, read out a short letter sent in by the professor’s daughters, Ceri Howard and Sian Davenport, who shared fond memories of Malta. Their letter revealed that they often posed in front of buildings for their father, simply serving as a measure for the scale of the building.
Tonna then presented a talk entitled ‘The Collected Exchange of Letters Between Quentin Hughes and Olof Gollcher’. Her research charted the relationship between Gollcher, the last owner of Palazzo Falson, and Hughes, while tapping into the unique collection of images representing the Maltese islands by Hughes found at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London.
Left an indelible mark
Tonna compared the photos with Gollcher’s personal notes, sketches and diary entries to track the friendship between the two gentlemen. The pair bonded over their mutual love for Maltese heritage, very clearly displayed in their exchange of letters highlighting plans for future publications.
Roger Vella Bonavita, who travelled from Australia to deliver his address, shared memories of Hughes as a professor of architecture. In his talk, aptly titled ‘Quentin Hughes a Personal Appreciation’, he underlined that Hughes was always open and happy to help students, a sentiment which was echoed throughout the symposium by other former students.
Architect and civil engineer Anton Valentino, in fact, also shared his memories of his mentor in his talk, aptly titled ‘The Professor’. But what started out as a university professor and student relationship quickly developed into a close friendship, which spanned over 36 years.
Valentino also emphasised Hughes’s genuine contribution to the study of architecture in Malta.
De Piro spoke on behalf of Richard England, sharing his recollection of Hughes as a professional and his time during World War II.
‘Wartime Memories and Beyond’ focused on Hughes’s artistic inclination, highlighting his wartime paintings and drawings produced while he was stationed in Malta. De Piro complemented England’s talk by adding his perspective on the wartime artists based in Malta, including Leslie Cole, among others.
While Stephen Spiteri did not have a personal connection with Quentin, he gave an appreciation of his study of Maltese military architecture. His invaluable contribution to the study of Malta’s fortifications was recorded in a book titled Military Architecture. Published in 1975, the publication gave the island’s defensive architecture international recognition for the first time.
Joseph Mizzi’s talk, titled ‘Nostalgia: The Publisher and the Author’ lightened the mood of the symposium, in which he offered a moment of reprieve with his anecdote about the book launch of Malta: The Baroque Island in the year 2000.
The final talk, by Conrad Thake, closed the symposium with a recollection of Hughes’s later years. He also shared a unique gift received from Hughes, a notebook holding the sketches and notes for his seminal publication Buildings of Malta 1530-1795.
Thake concluded by noting Hughes’s contribution to the study of architecture in Malta, which left an “indelible mark on the field with his astute analytical eye”.