Just two random photos of Birgu streets which I thought looked and felt quite atmospheric. The Knights of St. John first settled in Birgu when they were kicked out of Rhodes by the Ottoman Empire, and steps were designed so that Knights could run up and down them in armour.
We hire a boat every year for Hike Norfolk to go around the Norfolk Broads on. I admit it’s not quite like this one though….
I’m also not entirely sure that we could afford the weekly rates….
Located in Vittoriosa, this is one of the best examples of a former Inquisitor’s Palace building still in existence. It was unfortunately mauled about a bit internally by the British when we had taken control of Malta from the early part of the nineteenth century, but there is plenty of history remaining.
The Knights of St. John built this palace to be used as the civil law courts in the 1530s, shortly after they had moved from Rhodes. They built it on top of an earlier building, of which some of the above foundations are still visible. When the new capital of Valletta was constructed the courts moved there, so the inquisitor, or someone who checks up on how the Catholic faith is being obeyed, moved in four years later.
Part of a former ceiling, looked down on from above.
The grand staircase added in 1733 by Inquisitor Francesco Stoppani.
An external well which was constructed in the mid-seventeenth century to be used as the depository of the communal cell’s toilet.
A rather graphic depiction of Jesus, the top one is made from wood and dates to the seventeenth century, whilst the bottom one is made from papier-mache and dates to the nineteenth century.
This is a twentieth century replica piece of clothing which I don’t entirely understand. Similar items were worn by individuals as an act of penance, so I’m guessing it’s for that purpose…
The torture chamber, which the museum makes clear was rarely used and it was only ever in operation to try and extract confessions rather than as a punishment. The inquisitors in Malta weren’t seen as brutal as those in other countries and the aim was to encourage people to follow good traditional Catholic values rather than to punish them excessively.
The Grand Inquisitor’s Chamber, where decisions would have been made and sentences announced.
The inquisitors believed in secrecy and these are the steps which went up to the Grand Inquisitor’s Chamber. The window on the left of the steps looks into the torture chamber and would be closed to prevent anyone from seeing who was walking up the stairs.
The entrance to one of the many cells, which is irritatingly low down.
Graffiti in the cells scratched into the limestone by inmates over the centuries.
Hygiene in the cells was considered important and there was drainage and the facilities to deposit waste in every cell.
This is an extensive palace and there was plenty of see, including the former kitchens, the chapel (which the British turned into a corridor), the bedroom of the Inquisitor, the bedroom of the head warder and numerous other prison cells. It all really became a little bit of a maze, with the directions not always entirely clear. There was also a permanent display about Christmas and I didn’t quite understand the relevance of that to the whole museum.
The inquisitors were not the harsh men which they have more recently been made out to be, they were simply the enforcers of the church which was immensely powerful at the time. The inquisitors also used the role as career enhancing in many cases, there were 62 inquisitors in total of whom 27 became cardinals and two became Pope. The two men who were elevated to the position of Pope were Fabio Chigi from 1655 until 1667 and Antonio Pignatelli from 1691 until 1700, with the former being guilty of some appalling nepotism, whilst the latter put an end to the practice.
I’m sure though that more could be done with the museum, as some of the items marked as being original clearly weren’t and there was frequently no explanation as to what a particular room was for. They have far more rooms than they have exhibitions and some exhibits were rather padded out and not particularly informative.
However, it was a fascinating building which an immense history, one which has fortunately managed to avoid being damaged in wars or changed too much internally. It’s just a shame that they didn’t really explain the architecture of more of the rooms, I was more engaged with the history of the building than looking at displays about Christmas.
Now closed off, this is an original part of Valletta’s defences, as constructed by the Knights of the Order of St. John. It’s not particularly interesting in itself, but in its unrepaired state it feels like a little bit of a connection with the Valletta of the sixteenth century. Well, I say sixteenth century, it might be slightly later, but I don’t want to ruin the magical idea that I had given myself that it was sixteenth century….
This is the ‘Flame Which Never Dies’ sculpture which looks over the city of Valletta which was unveiled on 7 July 2017. It was designed to mark the country’s Presidency of the European Council and was designed by Valerio Schembri.
The sculpture is designed to “reflect the enthusiasm and continuous work of the Maltese to decide their own future while improving their standard of living”, so a recognition of those who contributed to ensure that Malta could determine its own future.
Just working through the photos that I didn’t upload during the week, here are some of the city defences. This is also the main entrance point into Valletta, the Knights of St. John certainly made their capital city look imposing.
Situated next to Burger King (which I had to resist) is this little cafe, which is located opposite to the modern Maltese parliament building. There’s an internal seating area, but I decided to sit outside amongst the 50 pigeons who were flapping about. Malta needs to do something with all these pigeons, move them to Sicily or something, they are a bit of a nuisance.
Quite a murky presentation of the latte, but it tasted fine with a decent flavour. Service was very efficient, indeed it was a bit quick, as the server came over with the menu, handed me it and then asked straight away what I wanted to eat. So given that I was panicked at what seemed to be an undue haste, I didn’t order anything from the printed menu (which had been my intention). However, I had already seem a lemon meringue pie in their display counter, so I thought I’d have that.
And I was happy with my choice, nicely presented and a lemon flavour, although it would have been tragic if it hadn’t…. All with a dollop of whipped cream, what more could anyone want? Well, a hot meal like I had planned, but the lemon meringue sufficed.
It’s a decent little location with affordable prices, especially given its central location near to the Parliament building and the central bus station. They’ve picked up some negative reviews recently, but I couldn’t find much negative about it. Other than the pigeons, but that’s not really their fault.
And another in the Maltese proverbs series….
This one reads:
“Those who go to sleep hungry dream of bread – people who are suffering from some privation tend to think constantly of what they are missing”.
I’m determined to find all of the thirteen sculptures which are part of the Maltese proverbs series, which are dotted around the city. I found another two today, of which this is one.
The text reads:
“Do not count your chickens before they hatch – don’t make future plans based on wishful thinking”.
There has been a stronghold on the peninsula now occupied by Fort St. Angelo for so long that historians can’t pick out a particular date, but it is back in antiquity. There was a castle here by the thirteenth century, but it was the Knights of St. John who expanded it in the 1530s and made it their base on Malta. The site was used to defend the islands from Ottoman attack during the Great Siege, with one of the cannonballs fired at the site having been found recently.
Fort St. Angelo was further expanded in the 1690s and it wasn’t until the British took over in the early nineteenth century that it started to be redeveloped again. Damaged in the Second World War, the building was repaired and continued to be used by the British armed forces until they left Malta in the 1979. From 1906 it was also the home of the Royal Navy’s Mediterranean Fleet, although they irritated the locals by renaming it HMS Egmont in 1912. Fortunately the British saw the error of their ways and the original name was restored in 1933 when it was called HMS St. Angelo.
It’s only in the last two years that Fort St. Angelo has been turned into a museum, so, despite the rain, I felt that a visit to see the efforts of Heritage Malta would be in order. The site is also now the home of the Knights of St. John once again, something that feels like history falling back into place. In the above photo is the entrance into the museum, anyone getting into here would have already had to gain access through one gatehouse.
The site is large, but there are a lot of buildings which are empty and it’d be exciting if in the future there was more information about the history of the site. There are though three interpretation rooms in what were formerly dormitories used by the British, and the sally port which runs to them is accessible. However, the former recreation rooms and war shelter tunnel aren’t yet accessible, but perhaps might be in the future.
After getting a ticket, this is the entrance up into the main part of the fort. It’s hard to see how anyone could successfully attack this fort unless they heavily out-numbered the defenders.
This is D’Homedes Bastion which was built between 1536 and 1542, and the above photo shows just how wide the defensive wall was.
The rain meant that there were nearly no other visitors at the site, although the rain did make the floor just a little slippery as well. But it was immaculately clean and well kept, clearly some money has been spent on this restoration project.
There were a few of these watchtowers on the edges of the fort.
Inside these watchtowers there were extensive views over the local water.
There are several of these intriguing sets of steps, going where exactly I don’t know….
Part of the early defences.
Painted signs from when the building was used by the British military. There’s another old British sign in the shifting lobby.
This would have been an area where supplies were brought into the fort.
What is known as the Siege Bell, which was rung when the Great Siege was over. The present bell is a little more modern, dating to the nineteenth century.
This tunnel leads down to what was once the largest water cistern on the fort, with a capacity of 1,500 tonnes. It was damaged during the Second World War, and never fully repaired.
There was a relatively large amount of damage caused during the war which was never properly restored, it was just patched up by the British. Some of that patching up, and more modern repairs, can be seen along the wall.
This is the area where the cannonballs would have once been stored.
View over Birgu.
This was a rather pleasant visit, with much more to see than I thought, but still a great deal more potential for the future. The staff were friendly, particularly the man in the cafe who was full of enthusiasm, and a delight to speak to. Part of the funding from the EU came because of the cultural events which would be held here, I can imagine it’d be an impressive backdrop to many different performances.
There were plans to turn this site into a hotel in the 1990s, which was part of the reason the site fell behind with its maintenance. Although I’m sure that it would have made a grand five star hotel, that would seem a rather unbecoming way for the site to have been used, a museum and cultural centre is a much better idea. There was a decision, which seems logical, to demolish anything which had been built after the British army left, as it was felt that it wouldn’t be an authentic part of the site’s heritage.
This is one of those places I look forwards to coming back to in around fifty years, unless I get fed up with travelling by then. Although I could just watch it on the future equivalent of Youtube I suppose….
