Glossary of Architectural features

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 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 citrus or vegetables the reference to wolves is a cheeky allusion to human would-be thieves, particularly in times of famine.

Corbelled stone wall.


Ċinetta 

Kileb are a functional part of a traditional roofing technology which made use of the locally available limestone for the vast majority of the building. Before the advent of the Knights in Malta, the use of timber for roofing was unheard of as timber was extremely scarce. Building were roofed by means of limestone slabs called xorok (singular xriek/xorka), which were available in differing lengths. The longest possible xriek was tal-qasba or, literally translated from cane as an old unit of measure. These were 6 feet 10 and a half inches long or 82 and a half inches. The scope of the kileb was to increase this span further.

The ċinetta or kontra kileb as it is sometimes referred to is a further projecting course beneath the kileb which is also aimed at increasing the span further. Usually when both the kileb and ċinetta are present, the maximum span is of about 10 feet or 3 metres.

Cross section of wall showing kileb and ċinetta

Gor

A series of rectangular holes above the door leading into the main room which allow ventilation and some light into the room without allowing rain in. This is a typical feature of medieval buildings, and sometimes includes a decorative relief. 

Ħarrieġa / Ħarriġiet


Kileb 

Muxrabija

The muxrabija window owes its origin to the Arabic mashrabiya, a decorated oriel window located on the upper floors and used for the passive cooling of dwellings and water. Locally the muxrabija evolved into a security measure, equivalent to peep holes in doors. They allowed one to check who was knocking on the door without being seen. The earlier local examples are made of stone and are projecting. Later versions were made of timber, and were usually decorated with a lattice and are said to be the original inspiration for the local timber balcony. The surviving examples of muxrabijiet on the Islands and are protected. The locality  with the largest number of muxrabijiet is Siġġiewi where there are 10 surviving, although others are recorded as having been present. Another 26 windows are protected around the rest of the Maltese Islands. 


Two stone muxrabijiet in Siġġiewi

Timber muxrabijiet in Qrendi (L) and Żejtun (R)

Other features having a similar function are the nemmiesa, kixxifejra and sindikajra. Although romantically they are attributed to the housewife spying on her neighbours and what happens in the street for gossiping purposes, the reality is that these provided a sense of security or at least the possibility of looking out without being seen. More information on the muxrabija is available from Din l-Art Ħelwa's vigilo.


Siqifah (Imsaqqfa or Skifa)


Xorok 

Xorok (singular xriek/xorka) are limestone slabs which traditionally were hand cut from quarries and were of differing lengths. The most common were the 3 feet, 3.5 feet and 4 feet versions (1m, 1.1m and 1.2m), which were then placed on stone arches or beams, both timber and steel. The longest xorok available were those know as xriek tal-qasba, or length of a qasba (cane) which was 6 feet 10 and a half inches. Since stone is strong in compression not in tension, this was the longest span which could take loading without shearing, and even then our ancestors would not allow children to jump and would be very careful in the placement of heave objects such as wardrobes in the upper rooms.

Left:Images showing xorok tal-qasba with kileb and right xorok on kileb and ċinetta






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