Carlo Gimach

Carlo Gimach (2 March 1651 – 31 December 1730) was a Maltese architect, engineer and poet who was active in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Throughout his career, he worked in Malta, Portugal, and Rome, and he is mostly known for designing Palazzo Carneiro (now Auberge de Bavière) in Valletta, renovating the Monastery of Arouca in Portugal, and restoring the Basilica of St. Anastasia in Rome. He is known to have written a number of poems and other literary works, but these are all lost with the exception of one cantata which he wrote in 1714.

Life Carlo Gimach was born in 1651 to Gio Paolo Gimach and his wife Paolina Sartre. Gio Paolo Gimach, Carlo Gimach's father, was the merchant son of a Palestinian refugee and was raised by Giovanni Paolo Lascaris. His mother was the daughter of a French migrant and a Maltese noblewoman. He was the third of six children. Gimach's grandfather, the Palestinian refugee, was raised as a Muslim Emir but converted to Christianity after he was made a slave by the Order of Malta. He was eventually freed and went on to provide an average life for his family.

Gimach studied in the Roman College in the 1670s before returning to his hometown Valletta, where he was renowned for his knowledge in architecture and literature. He designed two large palaces in the city – Palazzo Correa in 1689, and Palazzo Carneiro in 1696. Palazzo Correa was destroyed in 1942, but Palazzo Carneiro still stands, now known as Auberge de Bavière. Gimach also designed a small shipyard in an area of Valletta known as il-Fossa. and he built the Chapel of Saint George and Saint Publius within the basilica at his own expense. He died on 31 December 1730 in Rome, and was buried in this chapel.

Gimach is sometimes erroneously described as also having been a painter, but this is due to confusion with Carlo Zimech, a priest and painter from Żebbuġ.

Literary work Gimach was regarded as a man of considerable talent in Latin and Italian literature. Count , one of Gimach's friends, wrote the following about him in the 1772 book Malta Illustrata:

Today, most of Gimach's literary work is believed to be lost, with the exception of the cantata Applauso Genetliaco, which he wrote in 1714. Only two copies of this work are known to exist.

Works Buildings designed or remodelled by Gimach include: Palazzo Correa, Valletta, Malta (1689) Renovation of Palazzo Tabria and improvements to the surrounding estate, Ħal Far, Malta (1691–92) Palazzo Carneiro, Valletta, Malta (1696) Shipyard at Il-Fossa, Valletta, Malta ( 1696) Palace of Fra Antonio Correia de Sousa Montenegro, Beira Province, Portugal (1696) – never completed Completion and renovation of the Bishop's Palace and the Convent of Santa Catarina da Ribeira, Lisbon, Portugal Reconstruction of fortifications on the Portugal–Spain border ( 1706) Triumphal arch in front of the Lisbon Cathedral (1708) Renovation of the , Salzedas, Portugal Renovation of the Monastery of Arouca, Arouca, Portugal Restoration of the Basilica of St Anastasia, Rome (1721–22) Renovation of Palazzo Malta, Rome (1720s)