Lent and Holy Week festival opens at Verdala Castle

A new event centred on Lent and Holy Week opened at Verdala Castle on Friday evening with a concert by a Birżebbuġa choir and reflections on the Passion of Christ.

Kwareżima – Arti, Kult u Tradizzjoni is being held over Saturday and Sunday, March 7 and 8, with tickets priced at €10 for a one-day pass. Proceeds are going to the Malta Community Chest Fund.

Visitors can attend seven concerts and five discussions, while also viewing exhibitions of sketches, costumes, private collections of statues and crucifixes, historical documents and contemporary religious art.

Among the works on display are pieces by Maltese artists including Antonio Sciortino, Antonio Mifsud, Christ Ebejer and members of the Camilleri Cauchi family.

Photo: Office of the President

The exhibition also includes artefacts linked to Good Friday traditions dating back centuries, including items from 1784, a 1753 reliquary, 19th-century statues and books once used by grand masters for private prayer.

Parts of Verdala Castle that are not normally open to the public have also been made accessible for the event, including stables dating back to the early 18th century, where a painting exhibition on Holy Week is being held.

The castle’s halls have been transformed into themed spaces with life-sized statues and an antique crucifix used in the Black Procession of Vittoriosa.

Tickets can be purchased online or at the door.