Giovanni Bonello, a Maltese judge and a former judge of the European Court of Human Rights has donated his personal collection of historic postcards to Heritage Malta.

The collection consists of over 1,500 postcards and postcard-size photos showing warships and submarines in Maltese harbours between the 1880s and 1970s and is set to be displayed at the Malta Maritime Museum in Birgu.

Giovanni presented the collection at said museum to its senior curator – Liam Gauci.

The donor noted that although the collection is very dear to him, he felt that its rightful place is the Maritime Museum, where everyone may enjoy it. He went to express his hope that other owners of private collections will follow suit and pass them on to Heritage Malta.

Some of the scenes depicted in Giovanni’s postcards show very rare ships – such as battleships Breslau and Goeben from the First World War.

Liam Gauci, on behalf of Heritage Malta, thanked Giovanni for his generous donation, noting that it constitutes a unique collection through which some of the images may now be viewed in relation to artifacts of the depicted warships themselves that already form part of the museum’s collection.

Thanks to Heritage Malta’s Digitisation Unit, the general public will also be able to enjoy the collection virtually.