56 I SEPTEMBER 2, 2018 THE SUNDAY TIMES OF THE SUNDAY TIMES OF MALTA SEPTEMBER 2, 2018 I ·57 1-FE&WEL:I.:BEJNG HtSTORY

A terse account of a most interesting part of From the Customs House to Imgherbeb Point {Part t)

Lascaris Belvedere and !tk :61 the Amati Column. MICHAEL CASSAR

Before the opening of the Valletta ring road in 1978, Barriera Wharf, the waterfront between the Cus­ toms House and Imgherbeb Point, sandwiched between the Upper and Lower Barrakka Gar­ dens, was a cul-de-sac which had endured relative isolation for 400 years. Traffic exited the capital from Strada Levante through fountain. They sold fish from weather t'he steps do not present men, who vehemently, even vio­ Porta di Monte (later Porta stalls which they accessed from any fine appearance, and this lently, opposed the ferries which Marina or Marina Gate) from 1571 doors set on the. flimsy balcony inconvenience is by far increased threatened their livelihood. The fer­ to 1885 and, subsequently, from overlooking the harbour; there when the men are recklessly ries shut down i_n 1959 and were Victoria Gate. they also hung nets and creels to allowed to squat there and throw resumed in 2012. Inevitably, the road made Barri­ dry in the sun. the remains of their perfumed · The fish market became an eye­ era Wharf a busy thoroughfare, In 1859, Sir John Gaspard Le cigars and the refuse of their food sore; nothing came of the sugges­ burying its chequered history. Marchant removed the Neptune in all directions." tion to: "dispose better the space Lascaris Battery, tunnel, inscription and the steps that lead to nowhere. Exploring it is immensely satisfy­ to the Palace and replaced the between the semicircle, with pro­ ing if only one heeds William fountain with a small, semi-circu­ viding marble slabs and tables". It Henry Davies's advice in Leisure: lar basin with a central pillar "In 1853, Sir was closed down in 1937, was dam­ In 1853, Sir William Reid commit­ toponym Gnien is-Sultan, overlying "What is this life if, full of care/We create a fortified city from a rocky made him a gate at the foot of topped by a neoclassical urn. The aged during World War II and ted an act of cultural vandalism, Ta' Liesse church and Marina Hill, in have no time to stand and stare/No peninsula, Sceb-er-Ras, which "Francesco St Lucy Valley. fountain remained in place until William Reid rebuilt, the former rooms being which would have been excusable the fountain by Francesco Buonam­ time to stand beneath the straddled twin harbours, and In 1615, Alof de Wignacourt World War I. leased for shop and office use. In had it been, like the new dock in ici (restored in 1987), and a small boughs/And stare as long as sheep whose highest point was a 140 to Laparelli and brought water to the city and the The place was a hub for com­ committed an act 1978 the circular base was buried Dockyard Creek, an opportunity section of the original garden wall. and cows." Substitute "boughs" 170-foot plateau from which val­ waterfront, where he erected the mercial activity, where fishmon­ beneath the new road. cost. The separatio·n of harbour If Reid had spared the belvedere, with "bastions" and embark, with leys (, Ghetto, Arse­ Gilormu Cassar Neptune fountain. (Il-Ghajn tal­ gers and porters mixed, business of cultural To the left of the fishmarket, the waters into mercantile and naval World War II would have destroyed apologies to Marcel Proust on "A nal, Lazarus, St Lucy) sloped Ggant- the Giant's Fountain; the was traded, and, after 1906, as the vandalism, which Latin inscription over the tunnel having been settled in 1851 by Sir it; Lascaris Battery was badly dam­ remembrance of things past" or, as towards the sea. Francesco Lapar­ created Barriera area was also called Fuq li-Ggant). Valletta landing place for -the entrance summarised a grand­ · William Parker, it was decid.ed to aged and was not fully repaired until his monumental novel was later elli and Gilormu Cassar created Dr Giovanni Bonello dispelled steam ferries. The Gozo boats and would have been master's munificence: ''Having construct a (perfectly useless) well after the war. rendered, In Search of Lost Time. Barriera Wharf from St Lucy Val­ Wharf from St Lucy long-standing myths about the the Sicily ferries added to the gen­ overhauled the fortifications, battery on the site of Lascaris Lascaris Tunnel was widened Passenger and cargo wharves are ley; they altered the topography Neptune; he proved.that the sculp­ eral activity. There was the Austro­ excusable had it Lascaris turned his mind to the Belvedere below St Peter and St when the battery was built. Trav­ port security areas, so only the beyond recognition, and left Valley; they altered tor was Leone Leoni, and the sub­ Hungarian Carola from 1896 to needs and recreation of the public Paul Bastion. It was meant to ellers entered Valletta through Las­ shoreline between Fort St Elmo and Imgherbeb Point as a reminder of topography ject was the Genoese admiral 1914, the Gleneagles and Princess been, like the new and, at his own expense, con­ defend the inner harbour if the caris Gate and Porta di Monte; it is Barriera Wharf is currently acces­ the original peninsula. the Andrea Doria. Melita before World War I, the structed this garden and supplied outer forts were breached. not clear if 'Lascaris Gate' meant sible to the public on this side of Valletta was separated from the beyond recognition, Beneath the rim of the circular Knight of Malta and Ljubljana dock in Dockyard it with running water. He further Paintings and the odd phOtograph the tunnel itself. or to a gate at the . It is an idyllic loca­ rest of the peninsula by a ditch base, a marble cannon overlooked between the wars, and the Star of opened a new way through the confirm the destruction of a magnif­ entrance. Notches in the rock at the tion for staring; although the road excavated at the highest point and left Imgherbeb the harbour with an inscription Malta in the 1950s. Creek, an tunnel, enl11.rged the olq mole and icent building, also known as the Customs House end of the tunnel level was raised in 1978, it is still between the harbours. It was left on the muzzle: "Why do you hesi­ In 1908, ferry users walked past greatly extended it along the sea. Delicious Corner, and La Favorita suggest the former existence of a possible to sit on some of the orig­ to successive grandmasters to Point as a reminder tate to approach tiny boat? There "disoccupied persons and urchins opportunity cos't" In order that the memory of these during the brief French interlude. wooden barrier or gate. inal well-wdrn steps leading down leave a lasting imprint, and to the is no fire in here, the shell is who make both sides of the steps important works should not per­ Well-worn stone steps that now lead Midway in the tunnel is a small to the water. British and Maltese to undo or of the original replaced by water." Grandmaster · their own, often using language Some of the men lounging on the ish, the Knights of Jerusalem to nowhere recall access to the chapel originally dedicated to the Long before the steps and alter it. Pietro di Monte suc­ Ramon Despuig (1736-1741) set up and gestures which are far from steps below the market would have caused this inscription to be cut belvedere from the seashore. Mem­ Nativity of the Virgin; in 1900, Anto­ the mole, it took sheer genius to ceeded de Valette, and Laparelli peninsula" fishermen's huts around the pleasant to the passers-by. In wet been barcaioli (barklori), dghajsa in 1642." ories of the area are recalled in the nio Annetto Caruana referred to its foundation by a certain Borg when the tunnel was cut. There is now a 1901 plaque on the pediment, citing The Neptune fountain painted a 40-day indulgence by Mgr Pietro by Willem Schellinks. Pace to whoever recited a Salve Regina in front of the image of Our Lady of Mt Carmel. Antique images show a phallic­ • $ like column near the steps leading from the waterfront to the belvedere. This commemorated the munificence of Fra Giulio Amati, Bali of Venosa, who, in 1651, paid for the construction of a haven (Porto Pidocchio/Porto Amati - the flea port) for galleys. · This was destroyed in a storm in 1686 but was rebuilt by Grandmas­ ter Gregorio Caraffa. Galleys were repaired in the adja­ cent arsenal built in the great ditch below St Peter and St Paul Bastion by Fra Girolamo Salvago in 1652. It was abandoned after destruction by fire in 1685 (notches in the rock in the Barrakka Lifts camber reveal its former site).

(To be continued)