Following an announcement that a number of colourful carnival activities which were cancelled due to bad weather will take place next Saturday and Sunday (yay!), we were delighted to keep the festive spirit alive, so you can imagine our excitement when we stumbled upon a wonderful selection of rare carnival images from the past!

This slice of history, depicting carnival floats of the past, was shared via Facebook yesterday by the Gabriel Caruana Foundation, which aims to support and nurture the growth of modern and contemporary art in Malta.

The images date back from the 1950s and 1960s, and offer a rare glimpse into the passion and talent of the artists, craftsmen and women of the past who poured so much time and dedication into creating spectacular floats to wow the carnival audience.

These artists include Gabriel Caruana, who made a name for himself in the fields of sculpture, painting and ceramics. He trained all over the world, and was one of the early pioneers of modern art in Malta, expressing himself in innovative sculptures in wood, papier mâché, objets trouvés, paintings and ceramic art. Here is one of his creations for the 1967 carnival in Malta.

And here is the man himself, next to one of the floats. 

If you’d like to see what our contemporary artists and float-makers have in store for us this year, you're in luck, and will have another opportunity to do so this weekend! Carnival celebrations will take place this Saturday and Sunday, in Valletta, to make up for the cancellations over the last rainy weekend. Head down there for history in the making. For more information, check out the Maltese page of Karnival ta' Malta or the Facebook page.