Apse of St.Helen's Basilica in Birkirkara

Having completed the building of their monumental St Helen basilica in Birkirkara with its sacristies at the turn of the 20th century, the chapter of St Helen set out to decorate the vault and dome of their church.
By 1884, Giuseppe Calì had already painted the glory of St Helen in the main apse. Certainly knowledgeable of what was happening on the Roman scene, this time round the collegiate chapter turned its gaze to the Roman Virgino Monti (Genzano di Roma 1852-1942). By that time, Monti could boast of an extensive, indeed illustrious, portfolio of commissions in both secular and ecclesiastical buildings.

In a certain sense, he was Pope Leo XIII’s artist of choice, in that the pope had certainly intervened in commissioning to him the decoration of various churches in his native town of Carpineto Romano. He had already completed extensive commissions in the two largest churches built in Rome at that period: the international Sanctuary of the Sacred Heart in Via Marsala (1887) and San Gioacchino in Prati (1892-93).
In what was to be the first but not the only commission in Malta, Monti completed the painting of the vault and the dome at St Helen’s in just four years between 1906 and 1910.
Monti depicted scenes from the life of St Helen and her son, Constantine the Great. The whole cycle culminates with the triumph of the Cross in the dome, in which the artist presents an interpretation of the Last Judgment, everything reaching its climax in the imposing image of Christ, the Rex tremendae maiestatis, as the judge of all.
The iconographic cycle was set by the Palermitan theologian Mgr Salvatore di Pietro, who studied literature at the Scuola di Belle Arti in Rome. Monti expresses the very best of his style. Inspired by 17th-century Roman classicism, and its reinterpretation in the 19th century, Monti depicts his figures in a naturalistic manner, portrayed within classical architectural motifs. He fully takes in the principles of the nascent liturgical movement and its tastes in returning to the simplicity of the paleo-Christian period, especially where liturgical wear, art and architecture are concerned. The dome itself was inaugurated in 1906.
In executing these works, Virginio was assisted by his son Giuseppe Monti and his apprentice Rodolfo Villani. Very early on after its completion, Malta’s porous stone made necessary a number of restorative interventions.
Already on September 5, 1932, the provost of the time, Can C. Bonnici, in a petition to the vicar general, Can Paolo Galea, explained that urgent restoration was necessary on a part of the paintings on the church’s vault. In his formal request, he explained that “gli importanti affreschi esistenti sulla volta della chiesa collegiata stanno in alcune parte danneggiandosi per l’umidità sviluppata dalla pietra salnitrata sottostante”.
He further stated that they had already informed Prof. Monti of what was happening to his ceiling, who had urged them to undertake the necessary restoration as soon as possible, “facendo prima cambiare la pietra sottostante, onde ovviare alla umidità di estendersi maggiormente con evidente maggior rovina”. Being advanced in age, he was, however, unable to carry out these works himself but advised them to entrust these works to Prof. Villani, who we know had helped him in executing them.
Bonnici explained that the works were expected to cost £200. He petitioned the Curia to allow the works and to authorise the use of funds of various confraternities, which in turn had already devoted certain sums for these urgent works to be carried out. The procurator of the Altar of the Annunciation had deposited £69, that of the Crucifix another £50. Bonnici requested authorisation to borrow another £100, with the income of the Altar of the Annunciation as guarantee.
Unfortunately, these works did not stop the continual deterioration of both vault and dome. So much that, on December 21, 1953, Can V. Saliba, as procurator of the basilica, in a petition presented to the Curia, attested that the chapter had deemed it necessary to ask the advice of Prof. Cesare Brandi as to what could be done to save these paintings from the harm being done by continuous water infiltration.
The state of conservation of the painted dome at St Helen’s Basilica was found to be compromised by a number of deteriorating factors. Primarily the paintings have been greatly affected by veils of salt efflorescence, suggesting the infiltration of moisture from the external fabric of the dome. In other areas, the crystallisation of salts occurred beneath the preparation layer. It was therefore evident that rain water again found access to the interior of the dome.
This has resulted in the detachment of Monti’s underlying thin and fragile preparation layer, which in turn has caused detachments of the painting strata from the stone support, and in some areas to break away completely, resulting in large lacunae.
Furthermore, the restoration materials used in the restoration of the 1980s were found to be altering and deteriorating. An acrylic resin applied to the whole surface of the paintings was impeding the water vapour permeability of the porous surface

of the paintings.

In 2021, another restoration was commissioned and carried out by Atelier Del Restauro after further works on the outer side of the dome. Just a month away from the liturgical feast of St. Helen of that year, the basilica of Birkirkara have inaugurated the conservation and restoration of all eight paintings on the dome.