Historic Graffiti

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Large ship graffito on a chapel in Mosta
Graffiti is normally thought of as being street art or vandalism, making use of spray or other paints. It is a means of expression that has been around for a while however, albeit making use of different means. The older version of graffiti we have in Malta are scratches on the local limestone, which being rather soft, lends itself quite easily to this. The majority of historic graffiti consists of ships and other sea vessels on chapel facades, however there are other examples of graffiti such as individuals, ensigns and coat of arms and others. 



Three small graffiti of maritime craft.
The most common type of historic graffiti consists of ships, the majority of which have been dated to the Knights' period. In the same way that we now use social media to expose things we like or experiences to our friends, in the past the same process was followed making use of the means available. Thus graffiti were mainly a means of showing other people new ships entering the harbour, experiences one would have passed through or otherwise experienced, and at times as a way of showing thanks to higher deities for surviving harrowing experiences. Although chapels are the most common location for these historic graffiti, there are a number of other locations where these graffiti can be seen. A number of private properties have graffiti on their exterior or interior walls, with known examples being in Valletta, Qormi, Zurrieq and Qrendi. There are also streets named for this phenomenon such as Triq il-Graffiti Navali in Swatar where there is an old farmhouse which has numerous ship graffiti on it.

The bastions and other fortifications are another source of historic graffiti, with most of these being the regimental insignia or crest of the unit the solder who drew it formed part of. Some of these are located along curtain walls and in the vicinity of barracks, although a number are on gates, leading one to assume that the latter were drawn when the soldier got bored while on duty.

The following are some examples of these graffiti. More will be uploaded once available. 

Ship with masts, rigging and armaments visible
Another naval graffito with cannon holes and oars



You can go look for graffiti from this map sourced from http://www.maltashipgraffiti.com/ 

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