Mattia Preti Exhibition comes to a close

“You made us all Proud!”

The President of Malta Dr George Abela – 3^rd May 2013?

Heritage Malta would like to thank the over 40,000 visitors, including locals, tourists, schoolchildren and scholars, to the exhibition ‘Mattia Preti – Faith and Humanity’, on for the past two months at the President’s Palace in Valletta. This marked an increase of approximately 40% in visitors to the Palace over the same period last year.

The agency has received very positive feedback concerning this exhibition and acknowledges all those who spontaneously promoted the exhibition on the local media and social networks. The comment which His Excellency Dr George Abela left on the exhibition’s official guest book in which he said “You have made us proud”, was also voiced and written by others who visited the exhibition during the past two months.

Heritage Malta would also like to thank all participants to the various related events held during the exhibition. These included three very successful curator?s tours, four workshops on artistic techniques entitled “Paint it Like Preti” and a series of gallery talks presented by local art historians and connoisseurs. Special tours were also provided for schools and other groups on demand. This was perhaps one of the broadest and most focused outreach programme held to date within such a short span of time, promoting the exhibition and the National Museum of Fine Arts, where the national collection of Mattia Preti works is permanently displayed.

Special thanks also goes to the sponsors and peer stakeholders who supported this exhibition project prominently, including the Museo Civico and the Comune of Taverna, and the top European museums which lent their works of art. Thanks to this synergy, Heritage Malta could also welcome two international academics to deliver lectures on Mattia Preti and his art.

The exhibition catalogue will now remain on sale from all Heritage Malta sites, a fitting token to keep of this once in a lifetime exhibition.