Il-Hagar Museum is currently hosting an exhibition of local handcrafted figurines ( pasturi) displayed in the typical Good Friday procession in celebration of the current religious Lent period.

Parishioner Mr Carmel Farrugia from Victoria is the creator of this curious exhibit portraying scenes from the Via Crucis.

The museum said that “one has to appreciate the attention he has devoted to detail especially considering that he is handling miniature-sized clay statuettes. Something naïve-like, unaffected, and unsophisticated emerges from the end result of his pasturi.”

Mr Farrugia has patiently laid out this three-dimensional representation of the local society where religion still weaves itself around other threads forming the fabric of Gozitan life.

Mr Farrugia, now a pensioner, reveals that this exhibit originated 25-years ago, when he was still working in G?ajnsielem. It was first exhibited in a smaller version at St. George’s Basilica in Gozo with new statuettes continuously being added as the years went on. The last additions were the characters with the “forcina” (this is used to hold the saint statue during the religious procession), four new figurines to every statue in this exhibit.

The basic form of each figurine is created with the aid of a specific mould and then the arms, head, and other parts are added on. In the same way, he has also worked on other creations like the Christmas Nativity scene and was also commissioned by other people to make personalised versions or copies of the figurines.

This is not the first time that Mr Farrugia has exhibited this work at Il-Hagar, however he constantly varies the layout and background scenery. As part of the backdrop of this year’s exhibit, he has replicated various real-life facades around the streets of Victoria through which the Good Friday procession passes.

The museum encourages the public, both young and old, to visit and view the exhibit. “The art of making pasturi is after all another way of keeping alive those traditions which many locals seem to be nostalgic for today.”

Mr Carmel Farrugia’s final result also acts as a photograph of the village people, their lifestyle as well as those traditional buildings, shops, and interesting nooks and crannies around Victoria which are fast being obliterated by modern change.

This exhibition is available at the Museum Level -1 until Sunday, the 7th of April.

The Museum, which is located in St George’s Square, is open Monday to Sunday, 9am-5pm. Entrance is free.

Permalink: The Way of the Cross – Lent Pasturi Exhibition at Il-Hagar, Gozo