Photos: Johann A. Briffa

[Note on 18.02.2025: As I go through my own archive material, I realise I haven’t really shared this event, and these photos anywhere. Thought it sensible to post them now, for completeness sake, backdated to 29 March 2007, Magri’s centenary)

As part of the Centenary commemoration of Fr Emmanuel Magri SJ (1851-1907), I had researched and helped curate an exhibition entitled Fr Emmanuel Magri SJ: Jesuit, Ethnographer, Archaeologist, on his pioneering work.

The exhibition, organised by Heritage Malta in collaboration with the Maltese Jesuit Province, was held at the National Museum of Ethnography, Inquisitors’ Palace, Vittoriosa (Malta), between March-July 2007.

Here’s what Heritage Malta had to say:

As part of a series of activities to honour all those who were crucial to establish cultural heritage on a sound footing in Malta, this year HM set up an exhibition on Fr Manuel Magri SJ, one of the pioneers of museums in Malta and member of the first Committee of Management of the Museum. the exhibition, titled “Fr Emmanuel Magri SJ – Jesuit, ethnographer and archaeologist,” was held at the Ruffo Apartment of the Inquisitor’s palace from 29 March to 29 July. It was researched by Josef Mario Briffa SJ, and was organised in collaboration with the Maltese Jesuit province as part of a series of activities to commemorate the centenary of his death on 29 March 1907. The exhibition was a tribute to the contribution Fr Magri made to the development of the archaeological and folklore scene in Malta. On display was a selection of artefacts which he himself had excavated and which now form part of the national collection, together with books and documents that he wrote on the subject, and letters from his personal life that touch upon his involvement in cultural heritage, especially his major project – the excavation of the Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum.

Heritage Malta, Annual Report 2006-2007, 48-49.

A small version of the exhibition, with a focus on Gozo, entitled Fr Emmanuel Magri SJ: Jesuit, Ethnographer, Archaeologist & His Relation to Gozo, was then held at the Heritage Malta Gozo Area Exhibition Hall, St. Martin’s Quarter, the Citadel, Gozo, October-December 2010.