The Kalkara Parish Church has a set of fourteen stations of the Via Sacra with marble frames. that surround the same Church. The paintings of the stations were done by the Italian artist Attilio Palombi and were painted towards the end of the nineteenth century. Originally this set was commissioned for the Church of Saint Paul in Valletta, but it was later replaced by a bronze Via Sacra, works of Pietro Tavani. The paintings were given to the Kalkara Parish Church in the early fifties, exactly as the process of building the same Church was concluded. A set of marble frames was made in Pietrasanta in Italy.
During all these years the paintings of the stations were never restored and therefore suffered a lot of damage to the canvas and even loss of paint. Assoċjazzjoni Wirt il-Kalkara has embarked on another project to restore these paintings. The process was initiated as half of the paintings were taken down from their place in the Parish Church and transported to the Restawr Arti workshop where under supervision of the restorer Semira Bugeja, the necessary restoration works were carried out on this very important and artistic set in Kalkara.
This work was performed with great care and the process included the cleaning of the surface of the paintings to remove dust and dirt accumulated over the years. The consolidation of all layers was also done where it was essential to ensure the stability of the paintings. Necessary repairs and inlays were made to restore parts that were damaged or missing. The canvas of the paintings was also relined to prevent further damage. Finally, retouching was done to restore the original colors and aesthetics of the paintings and also the gold on the border frame had been refreshed.
A few days before Christmas of 2024, the restorer Semira Bugeja returned the first half of the Stations of the Cross to the Kalkara Parish Church. Together with members of the Assoċjazzjoni Wirt il-Kalkara, with the help of Mr. Joseph Darmanin, the paintings were reinstalled in their marble frames while the other half of the paintings were taken down from their place and also taken to the Restawr Arti workshop for their intervention. The restoration on the second half of the paintings was finalised sometime before the Holy Week of 2025 and after being placed back in their place, these could be appreciated by the parishioners during this solemn time.
This project had been carried out by Assoċjazzjoni Wirt il-Kalkara in collaboration with the Kalkara Parish of Saint Joseph and is co-financed by European Union funds under the LEADER 2014 – 2020 program.
