Start Date & Time: 12/01/2018 - 6:30 pm
End Date & Time: 12/01/2018 - 8:00 pm
Price: 13
The Hidden Faces of Valletta
On a wet and windy evening of the 18th January 2018, 40 FAA members met at the Sette Giugno Monument in St. George’s Square, Valletta for a guided tour of the lower area of Valletta on the Marsamxett side led by Vincent Zammit. The purpose of the tour was to admire the interesting buildings with their unique architectural features, as well as learning of the histories that have fashioned the lower area of Valletta where many famous people lived. The route gave FAA members some good viewpoints of Valletta’s defences.
The tour started at St George’s Square, where our gaze was pointed towards the restored façade of the building housing the police station on Archbishop’s Street – Palazzo Verdelin, also known as ‘dei Colombi’, meaning ‘of the pigeons’. This was once owned by a powerful knight, Jean-Jacques de Verdelin, who was appointed as executor of several knights’ wills. The palace is richly decorated, an early example of Baroque architecture in Malta, situated in the very heart of Valletta, making it easy to imagine the vast power once wielded by this man. In the past it housed the Civil Service Sports Club, and currently houses a restaurant.
Vincent Zammit continued down Archbishop’s Street to the corner with Old Bakery Street, where he related the history of the Bakery of the Order of St. John, where bread for the hospital, prison, galleys and troops was baked. It was demolished in the 1920s to 1930s to make way for a new block of flats, where Vincenti Buildings stand today.
Continuing down Archbishop’s Street to Old Mint Street, Vincent talked about the history of the Archbishop’s Palace. From the time the Knights of the Order of St. John arrived in Malta (1530) they had disputes with the church authority. The Order wanted the Bishop to be based in Malta, not Sicily, and so keep the churches’ money in Malta. In 1622, Bishop Cagliares wanted to establish his residence in Valletta, so a one-storey palace was designed and built by Tumas Dingli. In the 1950s Archbishop Gonzi oversaw the construction of an upper floor. Initially, when quarrying the stone to construct the Palace, underground caves were discovered with fresh running water flow that had been flowing before the city of Valletta was built, and still flows to this day.
The next location visited was the Auberge d’Aragon in Independence Square. This is one of seven auberges designed in 1566 by the Maltese architect Girolamo Cassar. The single-story building was built in 1571 to house Knights of theOrder of St. John from the Langue of Aragon, Navarre and Catalonia. Subsequently in the 1670s, the Langue of Aragon built the Church of Our Lady of Pilar adjacent to the Auberge. The Auberge d’Aragon housed the Office of the Prime Minister up to 1974, after which it was moved to the Auberge de Castille. Presently, it houses the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and the Parliamentary Secretary for the EU Presidency 2017 and EU Funds.
Vincent led the group to the nearby 17th century Church of Our Lady of Pilar in West Street, the church of the Aragonese knights. The church suffered damage in the earthquake of 1693, but was never pulled down, just restored. Within, the church is richly decorated, with a titular painting depicting Our Lady appearing to St. James painted by Stefano Erardi, as well as several other paintings. The church, fully restored between 1989 and 1991, was given to Heritage Malta to manage in 2007.
We continued walking along West Street to San Bastian to view the large two-storey Auberge de Bavière, also known as Palazzo Carniero. This was the eighth auberge and last residential building built by the Knights and was the residence of Grand Master Marc ‘Antonio Zondadari until his death. The building was passed on to succeeding Knights who rented it out. In the second half of the 18th century it was converted into the Auberge for the Anglo–Bavarian Langue of the Order of St. John, and it remained so until the Order was expelled from the island with the French occupation of Malta in 1798. The building was handed over to the civilian authorities in 1921 and in the 1960s it became a government primary school. The Land Directorate occupied the building from 1979 to 1997 and since then has housed the main offices of the Government Property Department (GPD) and various Directorates.
Vincent next related the history of the first few days of the Great Siege and the Ottoman need to take Marsamxett Harbour from where they could launch their sea attacks on Fort St. Elmo, as well as from guns placed on Tigne Point (also known as Dragut Point). Further along San Bastion road, the group stopped to view the Auberge de Bavière overlooking the English Curtain and the Jews’ Sally Port. Here Vincent explained that Sally Ports and their use were an important part of any fortifications, and related the story of the famous Maltese spy Tony Bajada (mentioned in earlier reports).
At the Fort St. Elmo granary built by the Knights of St. John in the 17th century, Vincent described them as underground bell-shaped grain storage facilities (known as fossae), each covered with a large capstone. In the 1850’s, due to the increasing population after the arrival of the British, more granaries were built which remained in use until the mid-1960’s. The old Importation of Grain Office is now the Maltapost Office in Castille Place. Vincent added that the old main entrance to Fort St. Elmo faces the Grand Harbour and was used to transport supplies and men to/from Fort St. Angelo opposite.
The guided tour ended at the early 17th century Baroque Church of St. Mary Magdalene, which was the church of the Magdalene nuns whose convent was adjacent to the church. It is located opposite the present Evans Building, which was built on the site of an old cemetery. Vincent informed us that when the Knights came to Malta, there was an increase in prostitution, which the Grand Master wanted to control. Inside the church there were two paintings entitled ‘Doubting Thomas’ and the ‘Baptism of Christ’ by Mattia Preti. The works of the Magdalene nuns ended in 1798 with the arrival of the French who appropriated the monastery’s wealth and properties and disbanded its members. In 1941 the monastery was destroyed by air raids during World War II, but the crypt survived. Later, a government primary school and exam centre was built on the site of the monastery adjacent to the church. Later the church of St Mary Magdalene was abandoned until it served as a storage garage for carnival floats until 2006. Now the church is scheduled for restoration.
Tim Alden, on behalf of the FAA and its’ members, thanked Vincent Zammit for a very informative and interesting guided tour around these historic buildings in the lower area of Valletta.
Derek Moss
FAA Volunteer
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