Images of Reform: Exhibition and Book Launch Mark the Reopening of the Jesuits' Church, Valletta

Valletta, January 2026 — The Jesuits’ Church Foundation, in collaboration with FUMAC- the University of Malta – Valletta Campus, is pleased to announce the opening of the exhibition Images of Reform, together with the launch of the scholarly volume Shaping Minds and Souls: Jesuit Missions and the Mediterranean World. These events form part of the official celebrations marking the re-opening of the Jesuit Church in Valletta, following the successful completion of the first phase of its comprehensive conservation project.

The exhibition will be inaugurated on Wednesday, 28 January 2026, at 6:00 pm, in the Oratory of the Onorati, within the Jesuit Church complex, Valletta. It presents, for the first time, a curated selection of Italian Baroque altar paintings from the Jesuit Church, recently restored as part of the ongoing regeneration programme. Through these works, Images of Reform explores the visual language of the Catholic Reform and the pivotal role played by Jesuit patronage in shaping artistic, devotional, and theological expression in early modern Malta.

Curated by Rev. Dr Nicholas Joseph Doublet and Professor Keith Sciberras, the exhibition highlights the Jesuit Church’s pronounced Italian character and its close artistic connections with major centres such as Rome and Naples. The paintings on display—by leading protagonists of the Italian Baroque—are presented not merely as masterpieces of art, but as instruments of catechesis, persuasion, and spiritual formation, fully integrated within the Jesuit mission.

The exhibition's opening will also coincide with the launch of the volume Shaping Minds and Souls: Jesuit Missions and the Mediterranean World, edited by Roberta Cruciata and Nicholas Joseph Doublet. Published as a special issue of OADI – Rivista dell’Osservatorio per le Arti Decorative in Italia, the book brings together international scholarship arising from the interdisciplinary research and conservation initiatives centred on the Jesuit Church complex. It reflects the close synergy between historical research, art history, and conservation practice that has underpinned the project.

These initiatives are integral to the broader celebrations surrounding the reopening of the Jesuit Church, one of Malta’s most important ecclesiastical and cultural monuments. Established between the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries as part of the Collegium Melitense—the Jesuit College and precursor of the University of Malta—the church has long stood at the intersection of worship, education, and culture. The ongoing conservation programme, coordinated by the Jesuits’ Church Foundation in collaboration with the Restoration and Preservation Department and the University of Malta, seeks not only to safeguard its material fabric, but also to restore its historical legibility and living function as a sacred and cultural space.

The exhibition Images of Reform thus inaugurates a renewed phase in the life of the Jesuit Church: a moment of return, rediscovery, and renewed dialogue between heritage, scholarship, and the wider community.