2000 - PORTABLE ALTARS IN MALTA

A Portable Altar is a consecrated piece of marble that is large enough to accommodate the chalice and paten. On display were twenty-two examples of structures that contained these altar stones used for Mass. The altars varied in typology from domestic to outdoor portable types. The former consisted of the more popular armoire or bureau-type and church style altars usually owned by nobility or members of the clergy. The latter were used, and still are, for outdoor, baroque style religious functions. All exhibits stood as a clear example of a Maltese Catholic tradition which goes back four centuries and more.

The majority of the examples in the Exhibition dated from the 18th century. On display was a unique 17th century altar once used on a galley of the Knights of the Order of St John of Jerusalem. The most modern example exhibited was built in the 1920s

A full colour illustrated hard bound catalogue raisonne entitled 'Portable Altars in Malta' complemented the exhibition.