Malta Culture 365

  Arzella or Scalloped Doorway British period townhouses in Malta usually have a design referred to as stylised arzella or scallop doorway. Typical townhouse doors are less elaborate, however some examples featured a scallop shell design still exist. This served as decoration of a functional entrance which served to hide the meeting of the thickness of the double skinned wall with the doorway which was necessarily much narrower. This example is found in Ħal Luqa . Corbelled Walls   When going around the local countryside and in certain rural areas, one can see rubble walls surmounted by a projecting corbel, above which the wall continues. The scope of this wall was to stop the climbing of he wall from the street into the garden. Although originally this was aimed at stopping rodents from getting into gardens, the deterrent proved effective on humans too, such that in Sicily this is feature is called "para lupi" or wolf shield/stopper. Since such gardens usually contained cit...

Fougasse near Madliena Tower One of the most interesting means of coastal defence created by the knights around the potential landing spots of the Maltese Islands was the fougasse, a rock-hewn mortar which was designed to fire a large number of different sized stones onto approaching enemy ships. Although it is not a Maltese invention, the local version was a unique adaptation of the fougasse, both in its method of construction as well as its unorthodox application as a means of coastal defence . In the first decades of the 1700s, when the Order was strongly influenced by French engineers, a coastal defence scheme started to be implemented which included, the fougasse. In 1715 the council ordered 60 stone mortars to be cut at vulnerable points around the coasts of the island. no action appears to have been taken until 1741, under the direction of Marandon, that these weapons started being formed. Marandon fired his first experimental foggazza a selci on 28 September 1740. Dr. Stephen S...

The Auberges were buildings which were used as hostels by knights of the same langue or language. In some cases, there were more than one auberge for knights from the same country especially in cases where there were many knights coming from disparate parts of the country such as in the case of France and Spain. The surviving buildings in Valletta are all used for some form of public office as explained further below. Auberge de Castile y Leon Auberge de Castille as it is  The building was originally constructed in the late 16th century by Girolamo Cassar originally for the langues of Castile and Leon. It was extensively remodelled by Grand Master Emanuel Pinto de Fonseca between 1741 and 1744. The auberge is built on the highest point of Valletta and is one of the most recognisable buildings locally. The site was originally planned to host the Magisterial Palace, but it was deemed to be too exposed and thus the palace was shifted closer to the centre of the city. The buildin...

Tuesday 7 August An hour before daybreak when we saw that the enemy from Corradino had begun to move down towards St. Michael. Men from the fleet embarked at Marsamxett and were transported to Mount Salvador, both of which were a clear sign that we were to expect a general assault during the day, as indeed happened. As soon as it was light, they attacked St. Michael and the Post of Castile en masse, with such an uproar and blare of military music, that we would have marvelled had we not become used to it on previous occasions. 8,000 Ottomans attacked St. Michael and 4,000 the Post of Castile. They all came in a rush, as we had anticipated. But as soon as they left the trenches, we were ready for them - incendiary hoops blazing, pitch boiling, and everything primed for our defence. Thus when they started to scale the battlements, they were received like men well-expected. The attacks on this day were violent and fought on both sides with much bloodshed and cruelty. The main attack was o...

 The Malta Railway The Malta Railway was the name of the company which ran the train line locally between 1883 and 1931 with a halt between 1890 and 1892. There were a number of stations along the single track between Valletta and Mdina, however the company went bankrupt in 1931 due to competition with the buses which were cheaper and a more convenient means of travel. First railway trip on 28 February 1883 There are a few sites and Facebook pages with information available such as  Alan Edwards'  page  Malta Railway 1883 - 1931  or The Malta Railway Foundation Facebook page amongst others where the information can be obtained from. Above road crossing in Attard Hamrun station Road crossing Princess Melita The contemporary map below gives a good idea of the extent of the rail and tram network at the time, however it is a bit difficult to comprehend in relation to the sprawl of development in the past 90+ years.  The Google map ...

At the end of 2021, we saw the very welcome news that Palazzina Vincenti , considered by most architectural experts and those who study the subject to be amongst the best examples of residential Modernist architecture on the Islands, has been temporarily protected . This wonderful building is one of the few examples when the designer and owner are one and the same and thus the normal constraints did not apply, hence the resultant building which has been revered or reviled since its construction. There have been commendations in the past going back at least 2 years. The fact that some action on this was finally taken may signify some change in mentality . ..  or the power of social media.  Palazzina Vincenti, currently temporarily protected. This brought to mind other buildings which are or merit protection and have not yet been afforded this status. The following is the list of these buildings, which will be amended an updated as necessary. Villino Grech, Triq in-Naxxar, Birki...