Isla is the smallest among the Three Cities in the Cottonera. Built on a tongue of land next to Birgu, it was a logical and natural development in the move to live in the harbour area created by the Knights with their arrival in Malta in 1530.
The Ċittadella, the oldest fortified site in Gozo, is an ancient fortress situated on a hill in the centre of the island. The fortress we see today was mostly built by the Knights in the beginning of the 18th century .
Mdina, also known as Città Vecchia, is the oldest city in Malta, often called the Silent City. However, there was nothing “silent” about it when it was still a lively city in the past, especially in the time before the Knights, when it was the main city of the island.
In the early 17th century, the new style of Baroque which started as a Counter-Reformation design adopted by the Roman Catholic Church in Italy, spread through the Roman Catholic countries of Europe.
The Baroque age is generally considered to have begun in the last third of the16th century and to have ended in the mid-18th, covering the period of time between the Italian Renaissance (and its Mannerist sequel) and Neo-classicism.
Two key players entered the scene at the dawn of the 18th century. Romano Carapecchia, the architect, arrived from Rome in 1707 while Charles Francois de Mondion, the military engineer, arrived from Paris in 1715.
The marble tombstones that form the uniquely colourful marble floor of St John’s Co-Cathedral are a unique heritage rich in artistic beauty and symbolism. There are 378 tombstones in St John’s, as well as four small inscriptions or plaques commemorating Knights of the Order who did not die in Malta. Only two designs are repeated, […]
The background of wayside chapels that dot the Maltese and Gozitan countryside is much more complex and fascinating than their simple structures might suggest.
In May 1657, Vincenso de Bono petitioned the Grand Master for permission to add “un balcone di tre saliature” to his house in the lane over the Biccerija in Valletta. Lascaris, about to pass away, gladly issued the permit, considering that “it would not be of prejudice to private or public interests; in fact, it […]
Once established in Malta, the British colonial authorities took over the Knights’ buildings without immediately starting extensive building projects
Located majestically at the entrance to Valletta, the Royal Opera House was entrusted to Edward Middleton Barry, the architect of Covent Garden Theatre, London. The theatre itself was a huge success but had very tragic history.
This shopping street runs from the top to the bottom of Valletta, making it one of the capital’s longest thoroughfares. Prestigious establishments line the street, and it also hosts a daily street market. No casual strolling passers-by here but only throngs of shoppers.
Throughout the centuries communities at large were to mark their time of day by simply following the tolling of church bells. The matutina, the angelusand the għasar were moments when the church bells rang so that the community would be reminded of the obligation to pray at sunrise, midday and sunset respectively or else to attend mass.
The second issue of ARX Occasional Papers (2012) is dedicated to a detailed exposition of the Magasins à Poudre and other military storehouses built by the Knights of the Order of St John in the Maltese islands throughout the course of the late 17th and early 18th centuries.
Do not miss the Upper Barrakka Gardens at the highest point on Valletta’s bastions to enjoy the Barrakka’s breath-taking view of the only natural harbour in the Mediterranean. With the Three Cities as its backdrop, this harbour has dictated Malta’s history.
Vittoriosa’s medieval watch tower, a six-floored structure that had dominated the city’s piazza long before the coming of the Knights in 1530, was partially destroyed in the Luftwaffe’s brutal attacks in 1942.
Vous ne pouvez pas manquer Les Jardins d’Upper Barrakka situés au point culminant de la Valette, vous pourrez profiter d’une vue à couper le souffle sur le seul port naturel méditerranéen. Les Trois Cités comme toile de fond, ce port a dicté l’histoire de Malte!
The fact that some of these chapels are found in the least likely places – sheltered in caves or hidden in some unreachable valley, for example – has heightened their mystery even further, as each chapel, wherever its location, has its own story to tell.
At about 1.30pm on January 11, 1693, Malta and Gozo experienced the worst earthquake in their history. The tremor lasted some four minutes and was felt all over both islands. Although not totally destroyed, the old medieval Sicolo-Norman cathedral was very severally damaged.
St Paul’s Metropolitan Cathedral standing on the site thought to have been the home of St Publius, father of the governor of the islands who features in the account of St Paul’s shipwrecked in Malta, has gone through many dramatic changes …
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