The Sacra Infermeria, the Knights' Hospital at Valletta
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MALTESE HISTORY C. Some of the Order’s Projects in Malta Form 3 1 Unit C.1 - Valletta and the Three Cities H F E B D C A G Grand Harbour c. 1750. 1. Valletta in the 17th and 18th centuries To the original group of public buildings in Valletta the Order added in the 17th and 18th centuries, a theatre, a library, a custom house and a municipal palace for the Università of Valletta and the Three Cities. The Law Courts (Castellania) were rebuilt and the Church of St John was decorated by the paintings and sculpture of the Neapolitan artist Mattia Preti. During the 18th century new buildings in Valletta had a more worldly use. In 1732 the Manoel Theatre was built (the oldest standing theatre in Europe today), a library and warehouses along the Valletta Grand Harbour waterfront. Grand Master Pinto’s warehouses (known as Pinto Wharf) were built in the second half of the 18th century – today these have become the Valletta Waterfront sea- passenger terminal. The Grandmaster’s Palace and most of the auberges had their façade decorated on the th baroque style. Some of the richest houses (eg.Casa Rocca Piccola) were built in the 18 century. Strada San Giorgio and Strada Mercanti were the best streets of Valletta having most of the finest buildings with shops, stores or workrooms in the ground floor. Strada Forni and Strada San Paolo were mainly residential having fewer shops and fewer public buildings. In the 17th century more and more people went to live within the walls of the city. Land which at first was left without buildings was taken over for housing. The Manderaggio, at first planned to become a boat quay, became a slum area for the poorest families of Valletta. Other slum areas were the Camerata and the Dijuballi districts close to Fort St Elmo. In 1666 the Government stopped more people from the countryside to go and reside in Valletta or the Three Cities. One tragic result of the overpopulation of the Harbour towns was the Great Plague of 1675-76. From 9,000 who died of plague, more than half were people from Valletta or the Three Cities. 2. The Cottonera and Floriana The rapid growth of Valletta affected the other towns. Senglea became the next commercial centre after Valletta. The streets of Senglea followed the grid pattern as those of Valletta. Its buildings were nicer than those in Bormla and Birgu. Birgu had narrow streets that followed the medieval pattern. The construction of the shipyard at Galley Creek attracted many people from the villages to go to live and work there. 3. The building of Floriana in the 18th century In 1634 Paolo Floriani started the Floriana Lines so that Valletta could expand into the area between the two lines of fortifications. The building of Floriana as a new suburb town started in 1724 on a grid street plan like that of Valletta. The entrance of Floriana was decorated by a triumphal arch (Portes des Bombes in 1720). Floriana had features associated with the 18th century richly decorated baroque style. This style originated in Europe at the time of King Louis XIV of France from where it spread to other countries in Europe. Contrary to Valletta, the streets of Floriana were wider and decorated with baroque gardens and monuments. 2 Unit C.1- Projects Undertaken by the Order: Valletta and the Three Cities Year Valletta Birgu Senglea Bormla Floriana Estimated population figures of the 1590 3,400 2,600 1,600 1,300 - Harbour Cities, 1632 8,600 3,100 4,000 2,800 - Blouet, p. 114. 1670 12.000 3,000 3,800 2,900 - 1680 8.000 1,900 3,100 2,400 - 1772 20,800 3,800 5,500 7,100 - (Total marks 20) 1. Using the table above as your source, explain the following: (a) Why was the population of Bormla larger than that of Birgu and Senglea by 1772? ____________________________________________________________________________ (2) (b) Suggest a reason why there are no figures in the Table for the population of Floriana? ____________________________________________________________________________ (2) (c) What caused a sharp drop in the population of the four harbour towns by 1680? ____________________________________________________________________________ (1) 2. Name two of the poorest district of Valletta at the time of the Knights. _______________________________________________________________________________ (1) 3. Name the two richer districts of Valletta at the time of the Knights. _______________________________________________________________________________ (1) 4. How did the Knights embellish (beautify) Valletta in the 18th century? _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ (2) 5. Underline the two buildings built in Valletta by the Knights in the 18th century? Manoel Theatre, Public Library, Knights’ Hall, Barracca Gardens, San Anton Palace, the Lazzaretto (1) 6. Find two contrasts from the text between Birgu and Senglea at the time of the Knights. _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ (2) 7. (a) Why did many people went to live in Valletta or Three Cities at the time of the Knights? _______________________________________________________________________________ (1) (b) What kind of problem did this development bring about? _______________________________________________________________________________ (1) 8. (a) Which building did the Knights built outside Floriana in 1720? ___________________________ (1) (b) How did this building change ever since? _______________________________________________________________________________ (1) 9. Identify the places labeled with letters A to H on the plan of Grand Harbour on Unit C.1. A ______________ B _______________ C ________________ D _________________ E ______________ F _______________ G ________________ H _________________ (4 3 Unit C.1.2 - The Building of Valletta Read carefully the following extract and answer all the questions. Laparelli originally wished the streets to follow a serpentine pattern, but in these plans he shows a grid- iron layout designed so that guns could be moved easily from place to place. A main street ran straight from the gate on the landfront to Fort St Elmo and behind the gate he provided a large place of arms. On each side ‘the cavaliers will’ he wrote . ‘be . higher than the ramparts of the bastions. An attacker will never be able to equal the height of these cavaliers, because these are built on high ground. .The cavaliers also prevent the enemy from camping nearby. They stand sufficiently far back from the bastions so that rubble falling from them during a bombardment will not harm those who man the bastions. .If destroyed by continuous bombardment, their ruins will not fill the ditch, nor will they provide steps through a breach. The rubble can remain where it falls. With a minimum amount of repair the cavaliers can be rebuilt so as to be able, once more, to harass the enemy.’ Quentin Hughes, Malta – A Guide to the Fortifications, Liverpool, 1993. 1. Who was Laparelli? ________________________________________________________ (1) 2. The author mentions ‘streets’. Which city is he referring to? _________________________ (1) 3. Why do you think Laparelli at first ‘wished the streets to follow a serpentine pattern? _________________________________________________________________________________ (2) 4. Most of the passage is a quotation from Laparelli’s writings. Do you consider this quotation a primary or a secondary source? _________________________________________________________________________________ (1) 5. When did Laparelli write these observations? 1562, 1566, 1568, 1572. Underline the correct date. (1) 6. (a) Do you consider the building of this city essential? ____________________________ (1) (b) Why? ________________________________________________________________ (2) 7. What is a cavalier? _________________________________________________________ (2) 8. Do you agree with Laparelli’s assessment of the importance of cavaliers? Why? Give three reasons for your answer. _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ (4) 9. Name two strategic advantages that the new city had over the towns of Birgu and Senglea. _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ (2) 10. Who continued the work on the new city when Laparelli left Malta? ___________________ (1) 11. Name two buildings designed by this new architect. ________________________________________ _______________________________________ (2) (Total = 20 marks) 4 Unit C.2 - The Sacra Infermeria, the Knights’ Hospital at Valletta 1. The Main Hall of the Saxcra Infermerija (exterior and interior) 2. Knights curing the sick. (by Favray, 18th century) Since the Knights were a Hospitaller Order they built hospitals wherever they had their headquarters. The first hospital or Infermeria in Malta was situated at Birgu (built in 1532). When the Knights moved to Valletta a new and larger hospital had to be built there. The Birgu infermeria was turned into a Convent for the Sisters Sta. Scholastica. The building of the Sacra Infermerija started in 1573 during Grand Master Jean de La Cassière. Its plan was designed on the Mannerist style