Snapshots of … An Island

Snapshots of … is a weekly series where the focus will be on the images. Each week I will choose a different place or theme and you will see it through my lens. Some weeks it will give you a better idea of ‘the big picture’, while on other weeks I might just zoom in on the details. So, without further ado, here is the first installment in this series. It will take you on a small tour of Malta – the must-see places if you are here on a very short visit. Although by no means an exhaustive list, it will give you an idea of what the island has to offer – apart from the sea and sun.

The capital city, Valletta, is a  UNESCO World  Heritage Site and there is plenty to discover.

Grand Harbour, Valletta’s natural harbour, has been fortified over many centuries. It is a place of unparalleled beauty and the best way to experience it is on one of the many harbour cruises that provide a commentary about the history and main landmarks of the harbour.

In the centre of the island, Mdina, the old capital city, sits proudly on its lofty bastions. This little walled city is a maze of winding streets, Baroque palaces, and a medieval core that has withstood the ravages of time.

A few kilometres away from Mdina, the cliffs at Dingli have always provided the island with impenetrable natural fortifications.

In the ancient past, Malta was thought to be the religious centre of a temple-building community. Hagar Qim (Mighty Stones) temple is one of the best places to learn more about Malta’s Neolithic past.

In the south of the island, the ancient harbour of Marsaxlokk , studded with traditional Maltese boats, is always a colourful sight.

San Anton Palace is the official residence of the President of Malta. The chapel and the gardens surrounding the Palace are open to the public and are a haven of tranquility.

Without hesitation I would say that the most beautiful beach is not found in Malta but on the neighbouring island of Comino, a short boat trip away. The beach, known as Bejn il-Kmiemen and re-named the Blue Lagoon, has the most wonderful crystal clear waters. Unless you love crowds, avoid the Blue Lagoon between the months of June and September. The place comes into its own when it can be enjoyed in relative solitude. Comino itself is worth a visit and a walk around the tiny island offers the visitor the opportunity to explore its many cliffs and secluded coves.

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St Paul’s Cathedral, Mdina

There is a 2000 year old tradition, passed down through countless generations, that the apostle Paul met the Roman governor Publius on this site, where the cathedral dedicated to him stands today. Publius converted to Christianity and became the first bishop of Malta. This is not the first cathedral to grace this spot. The first cathedral, which is said to have been dedicated to the Blessed Virgin fell into disrepair during the Muslim period. This was followed by a Norman church in Gothic style, re-dedicated to St Paul, which was enlarged and modified several times. This building was destroyed by the earthquake of 1693 and the current edifice was erected in its place.

This Baroque structure was designed by Maltese architect Lorenzo Gafa and was built between 1697 and 1702. Gafa’s magnificent dome is considered to be one of the most beautiful in Malta. The interior of the cathedral is lavishly decorated with paintings, stained glass windows, inlaid marble tombstones, silver candelabra and gold leaf. One of the most famous paintings is Mattia Preti’s Conversion Of St Paul which used to hang in the old cathedral but somehow managed to survive the earthquake. Go here for a 360 view of the interior.

The Mdina sky-line (which you may see in my header  photo), with the cathedral perched on the edge  of the hill, is one of the most recognised views in Malta and can be seen from many places around the island, both during the day and at night - when it is lit up. The façade of the cathedral is divided into three bays with two bell towers at the corners.

Beneath each bell tower is a clock. According to legend, the clock on the left was purposefully placed there to confuse the devil since it does not appear to tell the correct time. In reality it shows the date and month of the year. The clock on the right is the time-keeper and it strikes every 15 minutes.

 

As a child I would often stand at the cathedral’s main door and look up into the sky. They scurrying clouds made it seem as if the spires were moving and dancing to some secret rhythm. At the time, this was one of the highest buildings that I had seen. These days, I am no longer awed by its height but I still like to stand at its base and gaze upwards towards the heavens. And still the spires seem to dance. And I smile, because for a brief instant I am child again.

Metropolitan Cathedral of St Paul

St Paul’s Square

Mdina

The Banca Giuratale

The Banca Giuratale (or Municipal Palace) is a Baroque building in Mdina’s main street. This building was designed by de Mondion and built in 1726 by Grand Master de Vilhena to house the offices of the civil administration of the island. The façade is quite imposing and heavily decorated, as was common during this period.

 

The civil administration held the district court in this building until 1831 after which it was leased to private individuals. It was taken over by the Education department in 1881 and was used as a secondary school until 1969. It was then leased to the Sisters of St Dorothy for a short period of time and functioned as a private school. Today, the Banca Giuratale houses part of the national archives, specifically court proceedings from 1530 to 1900. An exhibition of portraits of Maltese personalities is on permanent display in the hallways of this palace.

I have my own special ties with this building since I went to school there for 3 short years in the mid-1970s.

Main Staircase

Banca Giuratale – Facade

 

Banca Giuratale

Villegaignon Street

Mdina

Opening hours:

Monday 8.00a.m. – 2.00p.m. / 3.00p.m. – 7.30p.m.

Tuesday/Wednesday/Friday 8.00a.m. – 2.00p.m.

Thursday 10.00a.m. – 2.00p.m.

Medieval Mdina Festival

Last weekend the Silent City hosted the annual Medieval Mdina Festival. It is, as the name implies, a celebration of medieval life – with a lot of pomp and pageantry thrown in. For two days re-enactors in period costumes roam the streets while different activities take place around Mdina. This year I particularly enjoyed a breath-taking show by a group of Italian sbandieratori (flag throwers).

Other events that took place included art exhibitions, human chess games, jousting and a falconry display. The entrance fee to museums and other places of interest was reduced. The Medieval Mdina Festival has become a permanent fixture in our events calendar and draws hundreds of tourists and locals to the old capital.

Jousting and jostling humanity aside, there is a lot more that is medieval about Mdina than this annual festival but, in the general commotion that such an event creates, it is easy to overlook them. So let me take you on a small ‘guided tour’ of the medieval parts of this little city.

I have already written about the early history of Mdina in They Called Me Maleth, And Then Melite, and They Came, They Conquered And They Called me  Medina. My next installment in Mdina’s story would have touched the medieval era but  I will leave the historical  facts for another time. In reality a great part of the buildings that made up medieval Mdina were destroyed by an earthquake in 1693. Subsequent replacements were built in the Baroque style. So finding traces of the middle ages is not as easy as it might sound but they do exist.

Palazzo Falson – a two-storey medieval palace with rooms built around an internal courtyard.

 

The Jewish Silk Market

 

St Peter’s monastery – (formerly St Peter’s hospital) convent to an order of cloistered Benedictine nuns since 1430.

 

Casa Inguanez – a medieval palace that  occupies an entire block and is home to Malta’s oldest aristocratic family. In 1432, King Alfonso V of Spain and Sicily stayed here while visiting the island.

 

Palazzo Santa Sofia – purported to be the oldest existing building in  Mdina, a building in the Siculo-Norman style. The ground floor of this building is said to have been built in 1233.

But apart from the palaces and the churches the true medieval identity of Mdina can be better seen in the houses of the ‘common folk’. The small doors and tiny windows, usually situated on a higher storey, are reminiscent of an age when pirate attacks were common and every household had to defend itself in the best way possible.

I always find it fascinating that, even with hundreds of visitors thronging its streets, I was still able to find silent streets and quiet nooks. The festival and re-enactments are interesting but, for me, it is the lure of the Silent City itself which never ceases to fascinate me. Because no matter how many times I walk through those narrow, winding streets, I always find something new that draws my eyes upwards or downwards. With each visit I learn a new secret and this tiny, walled city continues to ensnare me in its mesh of spells.

They Came, They Conquered And They Called Me Medina

As the years passed the empire weakened and was split in two. For a while this island fell under the Eastern Roman Emperor at Byzantium. But trouble was brewing in the east. The Arabs were thirsty for land and conquest. Fuelled by their new faith, they spread across the Mediterranean like a swarm of locusts in a field of wheat. There were not many places that put up a fight. By 870AD Malta had a new overlord and, as for me, I became who I am today.  The Arabs decreased my size, dug a moat around me and built high walls for protection.

And they renamed me Medina. The narrow, winding streets that you see today have not changed much from that day to this but life changed drastically during those years. The Arabs brought with them a new culture, a new religion. Slowly, but surely, the native people took up these new traditions. Some did it of their own free will, others under duress. From my perch on these lofty bastions I surveyed the land below me and all the surrounding sea but, as yet, there was no power strong enough in the Mediterranean to overthrow the Hakem, the ruler of the island.

But something in my bones told me that the status quo would not last forever. If I had learnt one thing from my almost 2000 year existence it was that this sea is always in turmoil. As one power waned, another would rise up in its shadow. I knew that the winds of change would soon start to blow again and my story would unfold whichever way the fates dictated. All I could do was wait.

And Then Melite

Life changed under the Romans, but not much and  not for me – I was just known by a new name: Melite (or Melita). Roman rule ushered in an era of prosperity. I was larger in those days, my outer walls extended to the nearby town that is now called Rabat. It was a time of conquest and the Caesars were hungry for new lands and riches, the legions were constantly marching and there was war in many places much further north – places like Gaul and Brittania – but those events did not affect life here in the Mediterranean. Over here there was no question as to who was the Mistress of the Seas. Rome’s power held sway with a vice-like grip but with it came the Pax  Romana, long years of peace during which trade flourished and the population increased.

Ruins of a Roman domus just outside the walls of Mdina (which can be seen in the background).

It was during this time that Paul, a preacher from  Tarsus, was shipwrecked on these shores while on his way to Rome to be tried for treason against the emperor. They brought him to a cave within my walls and held him prisoner here for 3 months. Paul used his time here to preach the words of Jesus to the inhabitants and the Roman governor Publius was one of the first converts to this new faith.

Life here continued peacefully, for the most part, interrupted every now and then by raids from Cilician pirates. In 117AD, emperor Hadrian granted the Island the status of Municipium. This meant that the inhabitants had the same rights as the citizens of Rome except for the right to vote.

Ruins of a Roman domus just outside the walls of Mdina

While generations lived and died within my walls and in the communities scattered around the island, the winds of war were gathering over the mighty empire that Rome had become.The empire was divided into two and the islands were placed under the jurisdiction of the Eastern empire. During this period of turmoil the island fell to the Vandals only to be re-conquered for the eastern empire by general Belisarius in 535AD. So once again I had a new ruler. The Byzantines fortified my walls and made me secure but that was not enough to prevent the next wave of  invaders from conquering this land. In 870AD Melita fell to new invaders from the east – the Arabs.

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This is the second chapter in Mdina’s story – the  Roman chapter. Remains from that era have been found and historians are always trying to piece together the story of an island whose only importance was its strategic  position in the centre of the Mediterranean. A lot of evidence from this period now lies buried under the Mdina and Rabat that we know today. Land is scarce here and, in ages past, remains of an old Roman city would have been deemed of little or no importance. So these remains would filled in and new buildings built on top of them. About 10 years ago, while road works were being carried out in various streets in Mdina, Roman ruins were found beneath the level of the current street. Work had to stop while historians and archeologists did their thing. Then the trenches were filled and Melite continued to dream uninterruptedly, as she had for so many centuries in the past.