Il-Ħaġar museum and community cultural centre in Victoria continued the series of talks programmed for this year which marks the 10th anniversary of its inauguration. Richard England discussed two biblical personages from the Old and New Testaments, Cain and Lazarus respectively, quoting from the prose and poetry he published in two separate books.

England combined his skills as writer, architect and visual artist to first treat Cain. He evoked the creation narratives of the Garden of Eden, the Fall, the slaying of Abel by Cain, and the banishment of the latter into the wilderness prior to the foundation of the first city and its eventual destruction in the Great Flood.

He easily weaved together the Book of Genesis, insights into Ancient civilisations, a sense of the timeless and a deep understanding of the primary human functions of the city as fact, protection, place, myth, and idea. He retold old tales afresh, raising his narrative to an epic level,  curiously resonant today.

Treating Lazarus, England tried to imagine what this friend of Jesus might have experienced during his time in the afterlife – where infinity lurks and eternity dawns. He attempted to reveal the arcane mysteries of the untold and unknown, what lies in the inexplicable beyond and unchartered yonder. Why does Lazarus remain silent and mute? Why does he reveal nothing about what he experienced during these special four days?

Interventions from the audience referred to the philosophical aspects of the narratives and to the unique devotion St Lazarus relishes at St George’s basilica.

Prior to the talk, Joseph Borg, from Il-Ħaġar, congratulated England for the honour bestowed upon him by the City of London.