Exhibition records Gib’s vicars, bishops and CMs through time

An exhibition of images of vicars, bishops and chief ministers was launched yesterday at the Mayor’s Parlour.

The historical exhibition organised by Louis Pereira shows portraits of vicars and bishops from present day to 1816, and the six chief ministers of Gibraltar from 1964 to present day.

At the launch Mr Pereira described how the first Gibraltarian bishop was John Baptist Scandella who assumed the post in 1857 and died in office in 1880.

Bishop Gonzalo Canilla, also Gibraltarian, was appointed and died in office in 1898.

In the years following bishops from England, Ireland and even Jamaica presided in Gibraltar.

Almost 100 years passed until the next Gibraltarian bishop, Edward Rapallo, was appointed in 1973 and stayed until he died in office in 1984.

After this Bernard Patrick Devlin from Ireland was appointed Bishop of Gibraltar until he retired in 1998, and Charles Caruana was then appointed.

Bishop Caruana retired in 2010 and was succeeded by Bishop Ralph Heskett and then Bishop Carmel Zammit.

Portraits of the chief ministers of Gibraltar, namely Sir Joshua Hassan, Sir Robert Peliza, Adolfo Canepa, Sir Joe Bossano, Sir Peter Caruana and Fabian Picardo are also on show at the exhibition.

Mayor Kaiane Aldorino Lopez called Mr Pereira an “inspirational” man and thanked him for organising the exhibition.

“It is wonderful for him to share this wealth of wisdom,” Ms Aldorino Lopez said.

“For the younger generation it would be great for them to see what a rich history we have in Gibraltar. I would like to thank Mr Pereira for giving us this opportunity to be able to reflect on our history.”

The exhibition is open to the public at the Mayor’s Parlour until the end of this week.