Malta: From ancient battles to modern
A Maltese friend from my teens invited me to visit her in Malta when she knew I was visiting Southern Italy. Malta which is hosting the upcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting this month is a leading tourist resort with over a million tourists a year.
Strategically placed, this Southern European island comprises an archipelago of a few islands; 80 kilometres south of Sicily, an hour’s flight from Rome.
One of the smallest densely populated islands in the world, it is just 122 sq miles and has a population of 400,000 with 13 districts.
The capital Valletta is named after Jean Parisot de Valette, one of the Grandmasters of the Knights of the Order. The official languages are Maltese and English and the main religion is Catholicism.
Malta achieved independence in 1964, and is a member of the European Union, and a Republic in the Commonwealth.
Its strategic location in the Mediterranean makes it an important naval base and it was used by the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, Swabians, Angevines, Spaniards, French, and British.
Malta has a lady President – Marie Louise Coleiro Preca.
To honour the bravery of its soldiers during the Second World War, King George VI awarded the country the “George Cross” which is replicated on the left side of the white and red flag.
The island was used as a stop by the Phoenicians on their trade routes. Carthage took over from the Phoenicians until they were defeated by the Romans and Malta became a province of Rome under Hadrian.
In the 4th century Malta came under the Greek-speaking Byzantine Empire and was involved in the Byzantine wars.Thereafter the Normans who conquered Sicily took over.
Malta was also ruled by the Spanish Aragonite dynasty from 1282 to 1409 and was given over by Emperor Charles V to the Knight Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem. Napoleon on his way to Egypt also captured Malta.
Valletta with its motto ‘The Most Humble City’ was founded by the Knights of the Order. Pope Piu V sent his principal architect to assist in designing the city.
The first stone was placed in the Church of Our Lady of Victories by Valette. When Benjamin Disraeli visited prior to becoming Prime Minister of Britain he described it as a city of palaces built by gentlemen for gentlemen and said it was comparable to Venice.
Auberge de Castille et Leon – the former seat of the Knights is now the Prime Minister’s office. The Grandmaster’s Palace is the former seat of Parliament and the President’s office.
On a very hot afternoon the day that I arrived my friend took me to Hagar Qim (Standing Worshipping Stones), a megalithic temple complex sited near her home in Tarxien dating from the Ggantija period (3600 – 3200 BC).
The temples in Malta are described by UNESCO as “unique architectural masterpieces”. Limestones were used and the site now has a gigantic tent to protect the stones from the elements.
The temple architecture features the main temple and three other structures beside it. There were special niches for animal sacrifices, burnt offerings and ritual oracles. These were used as depositories for sacrificial remains.
Excavations have uncovered statutes of deities and decorative pottery, which we later saw at the museum in Valetta. No human burials were conducted in the area surrounding the temple.
We walked amidst the oval chambers, semi-circular apse and the large irregular stones, and low altars with shelves for jars to be stored.
In the early evening we drove to the Church of the Assumption of our Lady known as the Rotunda of Mosta in a lovely square. It has the fourth largest unsupported dome in the world and was designed by a Maltese architect in the 19th century.
On April 9, 1942 during an air raid by Luftwaffe bombers, a bomb pierced the dome and one 50 kg bomb bounced off and fell among the assembled congregation of 300.
Unique architecture: Megalithic temple ruins in Tarxien
Miraculously, the bomb did not explode. A dummy is now exhibited at the church and the original was thrown into the sea.
As dusk fell, we visited a spot from where we could see the small island known as Selmunett where St. Paul’s ship was wrecked during a storm.
One sensed a presence in the area where a great being had trod. The uninhabited island is sometimes split into two by a shallow isthmus and a statue of the saint has been erected.
Pope John Paul II visited the island by boat in 1990. The story goes that St. Paul who was being taken to Rome to be tried as a rebel warned the captain that they would be shipwrecked.
He and 273 others swam ashore when the ship hit the island. The event is recorded in the New Testament in the Acts of the Apostles.
St. Paul cured the Roman Consul Publis’s father and he converted to Christianity and became the first Bishop of Malta. The Cathedral of Mdina stands on Publis’s house. A church near the Cathedral houses his wrist bone. St. Paul and St. Agatha are the Patron Saints of the Islands.
We dined that night at St. Paul’s bay encircled by the lights of the restaurants and shops and had Maltese grilled fish called Laumpki.
The next day I visited the capital with its ten streets through a restored gateway and admired the buildings with ornate balconies painted in vivid blues, greens and magenta, walked past the new Parliament built by the Italian architect Renzo Piano and visited the national museum where exhibits like the fat lady found in the Hypogeum are housed.
The Saluting Battery is Malta’s ancient ceremonial platform where gun salutes are still fired – it was used by the Knights, French and the British. At noon and at 4 p.m., two of the ancient cannons are fired.
We watched a soldier march towards the cannons overlooking the harbour and waterfront, load the cannon balls and fire on the dot of twelve!
Auberge de Castille et Leon - the former seat of the Knights is now the Prime Minister’s officeThe islands were first settled in 5200 BC by Stone Age hunters who arrived from Sicily.
We then descended the steps leading to the Lascaris War Rooms, which was a well kept secret. These underground tunnels and chambers housed the British operations headquarters in the Second World War for each of the three fighting services and not even the Maltese knew of its existence.
We were given an insight as to the mechanical ventilation system which had to be noiseless, how the construction was carried out in secrecy, the telephone system, administrative practices, and the map rooms which depicted the deployment of the fighting forces when the commanders met to plan operations.
Generals such as Eisenhower, Cunningham, Montgomery and Patton met at the site to plan Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily.
Due to the rivalry between Montgomery and Patton, separate landings were decided for the troops. The rooms were used during the Cold War but were finally closed when the British left their base in Malta in 1979.
The former Grandmaster’s Palace, the site of the old Parliament and now the Presidential Palace are utilised for State occasions.
It was quite a task gaining entry due to the number of cruise excursions. The Palace was one of the first buildings built by Valette in 1566.
The building was enhanced by other Grandmasters but damaged badly during the Second World War. The Palace houses a collection of works of art and heritage items such as 18th century French Gobelins tapestries, and portraits of the rulers of the Maltese Islands.
St. John’s Co-Cathedral was built by the Knights of St John (noblemen from important families in Europe) in the centre of the capital.
The order was founded in Jerusalem as a religious brotherhood and as hospitallers dedicated to defending Christianity. This gem of baroque art houses many art treasures gifted by the Grandmasters and is a sacred place of worship.
The origins of the order known as the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem, Rhodes and Malta date back to 1050 and the order began when the Republic of Amalfi built a hospice with the permission of the then Caliph of Egypt for pilgrims to Jerusalem on the site of the monastery of John the Baptist.
The Cathedral’s exterior is similar to a military fort but the interior is extremely ornate depicting paintings from the Saint’s life which appear three dimensional.
An attraction at the church is the inlaid marble floor with the tombs of the Knights of the Order with their coat of arms. It was built by architect Gerolamo Cassar.
In the 17th century Mattia Preti transformed the interior with his use of colour, illusionistic effects and elaborate motifs.
Michelangelo Merisi, one of the first Baroque artists was responsible for two paintings which hang in the Oratory of the Cathedral – “the Beheading of St John the Baptist” and “St. Jerome”.
The former is his largest known work and his signature is written in the blood of the Saint.
After an absorbing day, we dined with our hostess and friends on another delicious Maltese specialty, rabbit stew cooked in wine.
The next day was spent in Rabat and we bought tickets to St Paul’s Catacombs, which historians linked to St. Paul’s Grotto in the neighbourhood.
This hypogeum dating from Roman and Byzantine times is one of the largest (having connected with other hypogeums) in the area with Christian, Jewish and Pagan burials.
The site has a large hall with circular tables which is a feature of Maltese hypogea. These were used by the mourners for commemorative meals.
We visited St Paul’s Grotto close by where St. Paul preached to early Christians and stepped from the Grotto into a beautifully kept home next door invited in by the owner who had inherited the strategically placed house from an aunt.
After a ride in a toy train to see Rabat, we crossed the road to see the remains of a Roman town house (Domvs Romana) discovered in 1881.
The elaborate patterns of the mosaic pavement of the central courtyard, the dining hall with mosaic patterns of masks, pitchers, plates and other Roman utensils used in the home are on display.
Mdina or the silent walled city has a population of 11,000. The city dates back to 4000 BC and was founded by settlers from Sicily.
The Romans during their era built a palace on a hill and this according to legend was where St. Paul lived when he was shipwrecked on the island.
Mdina owes its architecture to the various peoples who built thick walls and a moat to defend the city. When the Order of St. John arrived on the island they were given the keys of the city but they settled in Borgo and the city lost its favoured status.
An earthquake in 1693 destroyed some of the buildings and the Cathedral was completely rebuilt. The Cathedral is dedicated to the conversion of St. Paul and the frescoes on the ceiling depict his life.
The painting above the altar has the historic shipwreck. The French occupied the city for a short while whereafter it was taken over by the Maltese rebels.
No cars are allowed except for a few of the residents, and for weddings or funerals. We lunched at the Fontanella restaurant with a wonderful view of the area and to save our legs after exploring the city, we exited in the fashion of a bygone time in a horse drawn carriage through the archway of the city.
Our last night was spent visiting Smart City, a business development area and seeing the musical colour lit fountain display. We thereafter ended our last night in Malta by having dinner on the waterfront of Valetta prior to visiting the flood lit battlements.
Due to lack of time, I was unable to visit the neighbouring island of Gozo, which has also its Neolithic structures. The best known is Ggantija but other remains at Tac-Cawla and Ghajn Abdul are being studied. Steeped in so much history, Malta was a fascinating adventure.