Between Valour and Valette

:· • . • I MAY2018 I valletta 201 a Ivalletta 20"18 ,MAY.,,. 7 ·Between· nowadays. If today we can Running parallel to their marvel at the palace building THERE ARE NO 'supposed' religious zeal the and its riches, as well as admire QlJALMS AHOUT knights had, as their main and the official functions per original aim, the care and suc formed therein, we can only IT; THE FAME cour of the sick- which, as we imagine what a spectacle it ACOJ)IRED BY THE have said, is the principal 'rai used to present with all the son d'etre' of the Knights of Knights' paraphernalia in"full KNIGHTS OF ST Malta today. And the 'Holy In regalia on several festive occa JOHN, THROUGH firmary' became a beacon of sions and diplomatic ex light for the medical cures and changes. THI.S GREAT cares for all sanitary-minded But being a religious Order SIEGE, HAD SET persons to look to and follow. the Knights had to have, above THE BALL Not to be outdone in the aca their hundreds, once roamed had to have their 'convent' Pro-Cathedral. everything else, an enduringly demic field, the Knights even A Maltese saying goes: If stones could the street of Valletta, up to the which they had to expand into Unfortunately, during the ter magnificent temple for their ROLLING ON created a renowned Medical speak, every one would tell you a story!" very end of their stay on the is an area reserved solely for their rific bombing of 1942, the devotion, liturgical functions THEIR HITHERTO School of Surgery that eventu land. This was on the last days Collachio. But when they came Auberge de France and the and the severe ceremonials of ally invented and discovered his undoubt formed into the Knights' most of the 18th century, when to inhabit this newly-built city, Auberge d' Auvergne weye to the novices that, after some re BECOMING original ways of surgical inter edly refers enduring monument: Valletta - Napoleon bundled them off the they felt that this was 'their' tally demolished, being re ally tough training, had to un KNOWN AS THE ventions that were later to the local aptly named after the heroic, island most unceremoniously! city, so they discarded their placed by two mammoth, they managed to set up .in a dergo, es)?.ecially the most adopted all over Europe. millennia! quasi-mythical, leadership of centuries-old tradition of living totally dissonant buildings that most efficient manner. So, it's gruelling Knight's Vigil'. So, 'KNIGHTS OF At a time when most of Eu history JeanParisot de laValette! in a separate enclave. But today host the headqu arters no wonder that their 'hospital', the building of an imposing MALTA. rope was still, in most cities, a based There are no qualms about it; going, up to a certain extent, a the General Workers' Union for the times, was indeed con church, lavishly decorated and terrible mess of drainage diffi mainly on the fame acquired by the When plans, discussions and step further they caused their and the Law Courts respec sidered as Europe's unparal enriched with dazzling sculp Saint Augustine. Others like culties and problems, the the seem Knights of StJohn, through this procurement of funds were, · different langues to erect their tively. leled hospital venture; the tures, paintings and decor, was those of the Franciscan Con Knights had constructed and ingly inex great siege, had set the ball quite expeditiously one should particular auberge. This they Thus today only five Sacra Infcrmeria (the Holy Infir of prime importance for the re ventuals and the Carmelites, adopted an enviable system haustible supply of our rolling on their hitherto be say, concluded the Knights, did, each with evident gu sto auberges, p ertaining to five mary) which today has been ligion itself as well as the ag followed suit and even in that, even nowadays, makes us honey-coloured, soft globige coming known as the 'Knights through their 'Cornmissione' not shorn of some patriotic lan guages, have survived: transformed into the newly-la grandisement of the Order . smaller churches and chapels wonder at its efficiency, some rina limestone. For well over of Malta'. But this may well be (the Plarming Authority of the pride on the part of the Aragon, to the north in Inde belled Mediterranean Centre, a And this gave us the unique one can always detect some pe three or four centuries ago! In 5,000 years this sedimentary attributed to their attachment times) laid down strict rules for Knights, who hailed from all pendence Square; Provence, in complex that has preserved treasure that all Malta is so culiarity that is not to be found less than half a century of its rock has forged and moulded and subsequent enrichment of the streetscapes, the individual national and ethnic groups of Republic Street, now housin g what's left of the original struc rightly proud of: the Co-Cathe in any other one. foundation the provision of our pre-historic, as well as his 'their' city; which also con building plots, drains, water Europe. The sole exception was the National Museum of Ar ture that, even today, can boast dral of Saint John. It has already been hinted at water, from quite far-o££ toric, monumental past. tributed to the acquisition of provisions and all that was re the English langue which was chaeology; Italy, in Merchants' that it has the longest unsup Impressed by such munifi that the Church authorities springs, became a reality for all Compared with such a long their present nomenculture - quired for an 'exemplar city. cau ght in the turmoil of Eng Street, aimed to house the Mu ported hall Europe. cence a church-building spree were not found wanting in inhabitants, in the first decade passage of time, Valletta in known as such worldwide. While the reverberations of the land's women-lover Henry seum of fine arts, and the finest also gripped the people, who their care of the souls of the cit of the 17th century. deed seems to be a 'modern' Although nobody seems to Renaissance were still throw VIII, who destroyed, despoiled of them all, the Auberge de vied with each other to create izens of the City, especially This brief overview has development that does not know exactly who coined the ing their shadow all over Eu and murdered all the English Castille which serves as the ad Im~~~tfus something 'better' and more through the erection of superb merely touched on the major match the rest of the Island's maxim that Valletta is a "city rope, the Tuscan Renaissance Knights that he could lay ministration centre of Malta's The chief of the Knights and beautiful. The result was a pro edifices for the religious and monuments left by the Knights. rich millennia! heritage, espe built by gentlemen for gentle maxim that the roads had to be hands on, so the English Prime Minister. the Islands was then known as liferation of churches and devotional needs of the faith But, of course, there is more, cially in stone. men" such an expression harks 'aptae', 'rectae et pulchrae, was Langue had become practically It goes without saying that the Grand Master, elected for chapels where in an area of less ful. much more that they have left But the vicissitudes of the back, albeit romantically, ~o the always at the back of the mind non-existent. the Order of the Knights had life by the Knights themselves than two square kilometres no Very little remains of the orig on this city. Many Knights 1565 Great Siege saga and its time of the Knights. That some, of Valletta's chief planner, The other seven, however, other more important business and in corroboration with the less than 30 were erected. En inal main churches because by built their own personal houses aftermath germinated, and if not several, were anything Francesco Laparelli, Michelan built lavishly and enriched to take care of than just the various langues, he too had to dearingly loved by the people, time the example of the there and many, in spite of the eventually brought to fulfil but the 'gentlemanly' type is gelo's helper. So, for the time, their particular auberges homes for every langue. Its rai have h is princely abode, and it the churches, following the ex Knights' main church transfor terrible onslaught of the last ment, the idea of a beautiful, quite obvious. But, once their the Knights did indeed want which, up to the eve of World son d' etre was military, with the get, that until this very day had to be, of course, more im ample 9f the Order's Conven mation was eagerly followed war, are still standing. On the prominent and impregnable regal lineage was a pre-requisi and managed to build what War II, had graced Malta's cap ever-present dream of re-con they are also known as the pressive and prominent than tual Church, were embellished and the popu lace, together other hand, the local Church fortress-city on an erstwhile tion for their admission into eventually came to be known ital city; excluding the German quering the Holy Land. But, on Knights Hospitallers. For such the rest of the langues. So a beyond compare or restraint; with their pastoral leaders, authorities, as much as the in barren peninsula. So, what was the Order, the 'flower of Eu as "the city built by gentlemen Langue which Queen Adelaide an equal footing, stood their an important undertaking they palace was born in Valletta's and Valletta today is regaled wanted to have its fair share of habitants themselves, were not once a battle-ground for one of rope' s nobility' considered for gentlemen".

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