The National Library of Malta’s annual Public Lecture Series returns for its eighth edition under the theme “Landscapes in Paper and Place: Rethinking Geo-Spaces through Malta’s Cabrei and Country Maps.” Coordinated by Mevrick Spiteri, Daniel Borg and André P. DeBattista, and held in collaboration with the Public Works Department, this edition examines Malta’s historic landscapes as documented in cabrei and country maps spanning the 17th to 20th centuries.
Cabrei, which are legally binding property books, together with manuscript maps, survey sheets and descriptive registers, reveal the evolving relationship between land and people. The series takes a multidisciplinary approach to reassessing Malta’s landscape heritage, exploring innovative research methods and digital applications.
The programme opened on 29 October 2025 with Mevrick Spiteri’s lecture “Revisiting Malta’s Cabrei,” focusing on 25 surviving cabrei held at the National Library. Subsequent sessions will include studies on historical cartography and GIS technologies (28 November 2025), early water management practices (17 December 2025), shoreline change analysis using 19th- and 20th-century surveys (28 January 2026), and a diachronic evaluation of the Selmun estate (27 March 2026). The series concludes on 29 April 2026 with Avertano Rolé’s exploration of anthropomorphic features in Maltese landscapes.
Complementing the lectures, an exhibition titled “Archival Drawings of Geo-Spaces: Exploring Maltese Cabrei and Periti-Agrimensori during the Knights’ Period,” curated by Mevrick Spiteri, was held from 4 October to early November 2025. It showcased beautifully illustrated cabrei and celebrated the work of early land surveyors, offering rare insights into how the Knights of St John managed and transformed the Maltese landscape.
Through this joint initiative, the National Library of Malta is bridging archival study with contemporary research, fostering further research and public engagement, and revealing how the past continues to inform the present and shape our understanding of place, heritage, and identity.