Giovanni Barbara

Giovanni Barbara (1642–1728) was a Maltese architect and military engineer. He was born in the town of Lija. He was Capomastro delle Opere della Religione, the principal architect of the Order of St. John, from 1681 until Francesco Zerafa became his assistant in 1714 and eventually succeeded him.[3][4]

Barbara's skew arch at Sa Maison. It was damaged during WWII, then left decaying, and renovated between 2018 and 2019.[1][2]

Biography

In 1685 it was decided to build a new parish church for Lija. The town's parish priest, Don Anton Camillieri, invited Barbara and Lorenzo Gafà to prepare designs for the church, and Barbara's design was chosen.[5] The church would be completed during the 18th century.[6]

He designed a skew arch at Sa Maison in Floriana, which was a marvel of construction and became known as the arco Barbara.[7] This was built as part of the Floriana Lines fortifications, and it was completed in 1726.[8] Several other buildings, such as the Church of St. James in Valletta, and Palazzo Vilhena and the Seminary in Mdina, are sometimes also attributed to Barbara.[9] There is no proof about these claims and they were most likely designed by other architects.[10] The Mdina Seminary was completed in 1740, around ten years after the death of Barbara.[4]

Barbara died in 1728 and was buried in the Lija parish church.[10]

References
  1. Deguara, Colin (6 December 2018). "Jibda r-restawr fuq l-arkata fil-Furjana li ġġarrfet fit-Tieni Gwerra". One News (in Maltese).
  2. Mifsud, Kyle (11 March 2019). "Swar tal-Furjana qed jiġu rrestawrati b'investiment ta' €1.6 miljun". One News (in Maltese).
  3. Thake, Conrad Gerald (2017). "Architecture and urban transformations in Mdina during the reign of Grand Master Anton Manoel de Vilhena (1722–1736)". ArcHistoR (AHR – Architecture History Restoration). 4 (7): 86. doi:10.14633/AHR054. ISSN 2384-8898. Archived from the original on 3 August 2017.
  4. Borg, Joseph (1974). "The Custom House - Malta" (PDF). Scientia. 2 (2): 59–80. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 May 2019.
  5. "The New Parish Church Of Our Saviour". Lija Local Council. Archived from the original on 17 August 2018.
  6. "Parish Church Christ the Saviour" (PDF). National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands. 27 August 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 September 2018.
  7. Quintana, J. (1844). Guida dell'isola di Malta e sue dipendenze (in Italian). p. 78.
  8. Spiteri, Stephen C. (2004–2007). "The Development of the Bastion of Provence, Floriana Lines" (PDF). Arx – Online Journal of Military Architecture and Fortification (1–4): 24–32. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 November 2015. Retrieved 15 July 2015.
  9. Montanaro, Eugene F. (1992). "The Building of a New Church dedicated to Saint Julian 1682". Melita Historica. 11 (1): 35–58.
  10. Schiavone, Michael J. (2009). Dictionary of Maltese Biographies. 1: A-F. Pietà: Pubblikazzjonijiet Indipendenza. p. 174. ISBN 9789993291329.


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