Lorenzo Gafà, possibly sculpted by his renowned elder brother, Melchiorre. Photo: Wikipedia

February 16, 1703, witnessed the demise of the 64-year-old Vittoriosa-born architect Lorenzo Gafà, the youngest son of the stone carver Marco and his wife Veronica. Born in 1639, Gafà was to achieve fame as Malta’s foremost baroque architect whose artistic heritage has remained a testimony of a bygone age.

His work has been the subject of erudite writings by a number of eminent architects and academics, including J. Quentin Hughes, Conrad Thake, Michael Ellul and Leonard Mahoney. In my opinion, one of the best descriptions of the architectural heritage Gafà bequeathed Malta has been penned by historian/researcher Simon Mercieca in his the paper ‘From a Rural livelihood to a Cosmopolitan Vocation – Tracing the Origins of Melchiorre and Lorenzo Gafà’, which I shall here quote verbatim.

“Lorenzo’s figure represents to Maltese history a fulfilled desideratum, a long-lasting expectation of having a local artist achieving international levels in the architectural field. The success of this man was already an undisputed achievement during his lifetime. Until then, it was rare for a Maltese artist to be praised for his works. More uncommon was the fact of having native maestri and magistri, as craftsmen were called in those days, received hefty sums of money for their work.

The dome of the Mdina Cathedral, generally reckoned to be Gafà’s best.

“The general lack of confidence in local talents was overt in the 17th century as most of the artistic commissions were given to foreign artists. Through his talents, Lorenzo revised the rules by instilling higher respect to those individuals who until then were only being perceived as proficient craftsmen by the local milieu. The building of the new cathedral in Mdina is perhaps the most symptomatic event in the creation of this new perception.

Gafà revived the idea of the two-towered church façade

“For his design and supervision, Lorenzo was very well paid, while his labour was well received in local circles to the extent that, two months after his death, the cathedral chapter took the decision to hold a yearly mass, at their expense, for the repose of his soul. Such an act of recognition is in itself emblematic of the wind of change that has overtaken the local attitude towards the indigenous art.

“Without doubt, Lorenzo left an imprint on the local landscape that has survived up till the present day. Almost all the churches built in Malta until recently were inspired from his designs.”

Gafà always lived in Vittoriosa where he started his career as a stone carver (scalpellino) and, up till 1671, he was still describing himself as a scultore. As a scalpellino, he was involved in the choir of St Philip parish church in Żebbuġ (1671), the reredos of the main altar of the convent church of Santa Scholastica in Vittoriosa (pre-1666), the reredos of the altar of St Peter Martyr in the Dominican church of the Annunciation in Vittoriosa (pre-1666), and the main altar of St Nicholas church in Valletta.

It has been mooted that he may have been apprenticed to the Italian military engineer/architect Francesco Buonamici (1596-1677), who resided in Malta from 1635 till 1659 and is widely credited with the introduction of the baroque style to Malta.

There is no documentary evidence that Gafà ever left Malta, though Michael Ellul has stated that “he went to Italy to perfect his profession”. Leonard Mahoney quotes the following remark by Gafà when giving evidence in the Inquisition tribunal in 1695: “Even when my profession took me elsewhere, I kept a house in this city [that is, Vittoriosa],” a remark that can be taken as a reference to his having been abroad in connection with his work.

Be this as it may, it is a fact that Gafà’s baroque was more mature than that of his local contemporaries. His masterpiece is widely accepted to be the Mdina cathedral. In 1679, Gafà designed and oversaw the construction of the choir – his remuneration is dated June 30, 1682 – of the medieval Mdina cathedral, which was eventually partially destroyed in the 1693 earthquake, although the newly-built choir did not suffer any damage.

One of his very successful domes was the one of St George’s parish church in Qormi, which is a feat of engineering

The damaged parts were dismantled and a new cathedral was constructed to Gafà’s baroque designs between 1696 and 1705. Up till this time, most Maltese churches were built with a temple-front motif having one or two bell-towers tucked to the transept arms, though St John’s at Valletta and a few early 17th-century churches – Qormi’s St George and Żebbuġ’s St Philip readily come to mind – had two-towered façades.

It was in the design of the Mdina cathedral façade – described as “a masterpiece in plastic modelling” and “a grave monumental façade” – that Gafà revived the idea of the two-towered church façade. Henceforth, churches in Malta and Gozo reverted to the double-towered western façade. The following few examples added them to their already-constructed towerless façades: the church of the Immaculate Conception in Cospicua (pre-1686) in 1694-1710 and 1722; St Catherine in Żejtun (1692) by 1778; and St Lawrence in Vittoriosa (1681) in 1759 and 1913.

The façade of St Lawrence collegiate parish church: the belfries are later additions in 1751 (left tower) and 1913 (right tower).

Żejtun parish church dedicated to St Catherine. The western towers, or belfries, were added by 1778. The dome was rebuilt by architects S. Sacco and A. Lupi in c. 1900.

Although Gafà is widely seen as a designer of churches, his output was much wider and included a number of secular buildings, as can be evinced from the following list of constructions credited to him. As shall be observed, some of his works have had to be reconstructed due to the ravages of time and/or natural occurrences.

As a capomastro (master builder), Gafà is known to have been involved in a number of structures, including the following: the parish church of St Paul in Rabat (Malta) (1664-83); the collegiate parish church of St Paul’s Shipwreck in Valletta (1666-80); Sarria church in Floriana (1676); the Carmelite church in Mdina (1668-72); and St Roque church in Valletta (c. 1680). In 1682, he was remunerated for his design of the Bishop’s Palace in Mdina.

St Paul’s collegiate parish church at Rabat, Malta. The dome was rebuilt to a different design by R.V. Galea in 1926.

Gafà was also involved in the construction and designs of a number of projects that included the following: Villa Bichi in Kalkara (1675); the Palace of the General of the Galleys in Vittoriosa (pre-1695); the church and convent of Santa Scholastica in Vittoriosa (1679); the parish church of St Lawrence in Vittoriosa (1681-97); the parish church of St Nicholas in Siġġiewi (1676-93); the church of St Peter Martyr in Marsaxlokk (1682); the dome of the parish church of St George in Qormi (1684); the parish church of the Assumption in Qrendi (1685-1712); the church of the Assumption at Tal-Ħlas, Qormi (c. 1690-93); the parish church of St Catherine in Żejtun (1692-1778); the Gozo Matrice (now the cathedral) dedicated to the Assumption (1697); and the church dedicated to Our Lady of Victory in Valletta (1699).

The Gozo Matrice, now the Cathedral, at the Victoria Citadel, Gozo.

The aisles were added in 1862 together with the present façade to designs by Nicola Zammit.

Some of the domes built by Gafà had to be rebuilt or remodelled because he was always experimenting. The one at St Lawrence, Vittoriosa, was successful, but it was destroyed by enemy action in 1941 and rebuilt to a different design by Robert V. Galea. The Siġġiewi dome was remodelled, externally, by Andrea Vassallo in 1919, while the Żejtun dome was rebuilt by S. Sacco and A. Lupi in c. 1900.

One of his very successful domes was the one of St George’s parish church in Qormi, which is a feat of engineering since it was constructed on thin pilasters that had not been constructed with a dome in mind. It is held that Gafà was so pleased that this dome did not incur any damage in the 1693 earthquake that he refused all form of remuneration for the construction of the Tal-Ħlas church.

The dome of St George’s parish church, Qormi, reckoned to be a feat of engineering due to the fact that no provision had been made for a dome when building the church. Draughtsmanship and source: Joseph Attard

Church dedicated to the Assumption at Tal-Ħlas, Qormi.

Gafà was very probably the most prolific of local periti. His influence was profound, especially in diffusing the baroque style beyond the walls of Valletta and Mdina, and introducing this new genre in the villages, especially the parish churches.

He worked mainly on ecclesiastical commissions because, for some reason or other, the Order of St John hardly made use of his services, a notable exception being the Palace of the General of the Galleys on the Vittoriosa marina. The Order employed a good deal of overseas know-how on the local scene. Gafà lacked formal architectural training but he matured as an architect, and his works, despite perhaps lacking fine decorative detail, are dignified edifices that still serve as focal points in several towns and villages.

Plan of the façade of the Palace of the General of the Galleys. The colonnade was added by the British in 1860. Photo: The late Architect Leonard Mahoney

Deservedly so, a number of streets in Maltese villages are named after him but they invariably indicate his name as Wenzu instead of Lorenzo. Why? He was christened Lorenzo, known as Lorenzo, called Lorenzo, signed his name as Lorenzo. So a little respect should be shown to him by citing his name as he would have preferred it: Lorenzo Gafà.

Joseph F. Grima is a retired casual history lecturer and assistant director of Education