Important Franciscan manuscripts restored

Two 18th century historical manuscripts that form part of the collection at the Franciscan Capuchin Friary's Central Library in Floriana have been restored thanks to financial aid provided by Bank of Valletta.

The first manuscript, entitled Gozo Antico-Moderno E Sacro-Profano, is presumably the first draft of the manuscript by Giovanni Pietro Agius de Soldanis, bearing the same title. It dates back to 1746.

The restoration involved dismantling of the manuscript, followed by cleaning and leaf casting. Through this process, the restorer repairs the holes in the pages by filling them with paper pulp, which is then pressed and dried, so that the page becomes whole again.

The restoration undertaken reveals that this document might have been restored by Dom Mauro Inguanez in the 1950s, because the binding and decoration is very typical of his style.

The second manuscript, entitled Apparato Cronologico (dated 1751), is by P. Luigi Bartolo. It is directly related to the setting up of the Capuchin Order in Malta.

The manuscript also includes a catalogue of the first Maltese Capuchin friars that left an imprint on the history of the Friary and the islands.

The same restoration process was applied in this case but this particular manuscript required a higher level of intervention.

Fr Martin Micallef, provincial archivist of the Franciscan Capuchin Friary in Malta, said a huge effort is being made to preserve and improve the condition of a large number of old documents. The archives contain invaluable historical, religious and cultural documents that date back to the 17th century.