ENCOUNTERS WITH A BAROQ!JE CITY THROUGH THE AGES

EDITED BY

GIOVANNI BONELLO PETRA CARUANA DENIS DE LUCCA

PHOTOGRAPHY BY DANIEL CILIA

DRAGONARA CASINO First published in 2018 The Internatonal Insttute for Baroque Studies by the Internatonal Insttute for Baroque Studies University of MSD 2080 Since its foundaton in 1996, the Internatonal Insttute for Baroque Studies at Malta the has been involved in a range of actvites that support its mission to disseminate multdisciplinary knowledge about the Baroque heritage of mankind, and to promote its appreciaton and conservaton © University of Malta 2018 for posterity. Images © Daniel Cilia, and individual collectons This objectve has been taken forward through teaching actvites at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, as well as through extensive research All rights reserved work which has formed the basis of various publicatons and theses. The Insttute has also performed consultancy services concerned with aspects of No part of this publicaton may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval the Baroque heritage of the Maltese Islands which is linked to the Hospitaller system, or transmited in any form or by any means, electronic, Knights of the Order of St John in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the On an internatonal level, the Insttute has enhanced its teaching actvites prior permission in writng of the publishers. by actvely partcipatng in academic conferences at universites overseas, and has also taken the initatve to organize internatonal seminars in Malta. The Insttute assumed a pioneering role in the foundaton of the Baroque Book layout and design, Stephen C. Spiteri Route Network of the , on behalf of which the Insttute stll regularly publishes a newsleter. The Insttute’s publicatons as well as its Cover design by Daniel Cilia courses ofered at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, refect the interests of the academic staf members in the politcal, military, religious, Typeset at the Internatonal Insttute for Baroque Studies social, philosophical, scientfc, literary, artstc and conservaton aspects of University of Malta the Baroque age. The Baroque world is approached as a holistc cultural entty which Printed in Malta by Gutenberg Press Ltd., Road embodies the two contradictons of the age: the abstract mathematcal , GXQ 2902, Malta and methodical aspect on the one hand, and the rebellious, emotonal and exuberant aspect on the other, which are both manifest in the architecture and art forms of the great Baroque capital cites of Europe. The enduring ISBN residues of this eminently European cultural expression bears witness to an age of learning, discovery, brilliance and splendour which contnues to atract the atenton of many scholars and poses a formidable challenge for them to provide answers to a host of yet unanswered questons, and to use archival research to identfy and disseminate new knowledge about the Baroque achievement.

Opposite: Decision by the Order's Council to confer the ttle of 'Most Humble' on the city of Valleta on 14 February 1567 (NLM, AOM 91, f. 177)

Inside covers: Eighteenth-century paintngs depictng Valleta from the and from Marsamxet Harbour (Private collecton) life in nineteenth-century valletta maltese and british cross-currents

Petra Caruana Dingli

The frst century of Britsh infuence in Malta lef a deep mark. Valleta and its magnifcent harbour, strategically located in The island had been under foreign dominaton for centuries but the central Mediterranean. The secondary role of the Britsh when the Britsh setled in Malta from 1800 onwards, its status military garrison on the island was to defend and provide a changed fundamentally. While the Order of St John had received secure environment for the naval forces. Most of the governors revenue from its estates in Europe, Malta was the principal posted to Malta in the nineteenth century were military ofcers, seat of the knights. The grand master lived in Valleta and had entrusted with managing the civil afairs of the island with the complete jurisdicton over the island. Valleta was the capital needs of the fortress in mind. city of a sovereign state. Like the Order of St John before them, the Britsh based Under the Britsh, the island became a small dependency their centre of government in Valleta. And like the feet of the of a much larger politcal entty. It was now part of a global knights, the Britsh naval ships sheltered in Creek (later empire whose head of state resided elsewhere. The island Dockyard Creek) at on the opposite side of the harbour was governed by a representatve of Britain’s monarch, who as Valleta did not ofer suitable inlets. Valleta and the Three answered to the Colonial Ofce in where important Cites across the harbour (Birgu, and ) formed decisions over Malta’s afairs were taken by the secretary of state the urban centre of Malta. in Westminster. Malta’s status as a Britsh naval base was the The Grand Master's in Valleta was turned into primary consideraton in all politcal, military and civil decisions the seat of the governor, and from 1835 onwards councils of concerning the island. government including Maltese members were held there. Monument Local interests were always weighed against imperial The Auberge de Castlle, probably the grandest building built dedicated to Sir at interests, with the later generally taking priority. The entre in Valleta by the knights besides the Palace and the churches, the Lower Barrakka island was governed as a defence post, mainly focused on became the seat of the military garrison. The army was largely Gardens in Valleta

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statoned around Valleta and untl new barracks began to be built at St George’s Bay in the 1860s, as well as at St Andrew’s, and . While the Navy was initally based in Birgu, its commander-in- chief retained his main residence in Valleta, in what is today stll known as Admiralty House in South Street. Untl very recently this building housed the Natonal Museum of Fine Arts. The civil service and government departments were also based in Valleta, scatered among the former auberges and of the Order of St John. The in Merchants Street contnued to be used as the courts untl they were moved to the Auberge d’Auvergne in Republic Street in the 1850s. This auberge was destroyed in the second world war and replaced with a new law courts building on the same site as that previously adopted by the Britsh administraton.

Society

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the entre populaton of Malta numbered 100,000 persons. By 1900 it had practcally doubled in size, expanding at a faster rate in the second half of the century. Excluding the troops, the populaton of the urban harbour area in the 1860s was around 60,000 persons, nearly half the populaton of Malta at the tme. This rapid increase in residents created huge pressures on housing and sanitaton in Valleta. Due to its size and scarce resources, Malta depended on external supplies for food. Its agricultural produce was too limited to sustain the populaton. Unemployment and over-populaton resulted in chronic and severe poverty among the lower classes within both urban and rural areas. Under the Order of St John, the export of coton had brought in much-needed revenue to Malta. While the knights did not put the island’s economy on sound foundatons, they averted economic disaster by investng some of their foreign revenue in Malta, which was their main base. Their inability to contnue to inject funds into Malta in the late eighteenth century, partly due to the loss of their estates

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in , coincided with great dissatsfacton with their rule by Navy and army personnel returning from batles and a tough Opposite: the Maltese, many of whom were delighted to see the back of life on board ship were understandably eager to celebrate Musicians outside Porta Reale, 19th- the Order of St John when it capitulated to in 1798, and have some fun once they reached the safety of Malta. In century paintng leaving behind serious debts. one example, in 1841 some ships in harbour were obliged to signed G. Gianni By the frst decades of the nineteenth century Malta was undergo a long quarantne due to plague on board. One of the (MUŻA – ) losing its coton trade. Atempts were made to encourage other ofcers, Captain Collier, was taken to the naval hospital in the industries such as fsheries under Civil Commissioner Alexander harbour with serious injuries to his leg sustained at the second Ball before 1810, and the plantng of mulberry trees to produce explosion of Acre. Once the quarantne was over and the in the 1820s,1 but these initatves did not amount to much. captain was released from hospital, he gave ‘a splendid dinner’ Between 1805 and a severe outbreak of plague in Malta in 1813 for all his ofcers at the United Services Club House in Valleta, (startng on board a ship in the Valleta harbour), the Britsh ‘where the greatest hilarity prevailed. The dinner consisted of commercial community in Valleta expanded rapidly. This was every delicacy of the season, and the sparkling champagne was helped by developments in internatonal trade, partcularly the passed around in double quick tme’. Collier thanked the ofcers French blockade on Britsh goods on the contnent.2 of the naval hospital who had helped him avoid the dreaded Due to this expansion of trade and the infux of foreigners, amputaton of his leg. A ball was organized at the Auberge de house prices in Valleta began to rise. This benefted some Provence for friends, ofcers and the ‘principal inhabitants of sectons of the community but not others – the living conditons the island’ which lasted untl daybreak. They then organized a of the urban poor sufered due to escalatng rents.3 Afer the regata in the Valleta harbour, and enjoyed themselves so much 1813 plague, the social and economic situaton worsened. In that a second ball was planned.9 1824 a commitee appointed by Governor Hastngs reported The harbour was the centre of the revenue and economic that the lower classes in Malta verged on extreme poverty, with actvity of Malta. Afer the opening of the Suez Canal, Malta also some almost on the brink of starvaton.4 A Britsh visitor in the earned an income from coal-bunkering actvites, with steam late 1820s described the abysmal conditon of the rural poor ships stopping in Valleta as they headed to India and other streaming into Valleta every morning, wearing rags and begging ports. for bits of bread.5 The ship-building and repair facilites used by the Order of On the other hand, he notced that with ‘arrivals of St John in Birgu were soon outgrown by the Britsh naval feet. the disabled ships of the feet … everybody seemed to feel the In the 1840s the navy built a new dry dock there. The dockyards genial infuence of war’.6 As the century progressed, Britsh remained a very important source of employment for Maltese naval and military actvites and spending determined the level skilled labourers throughout the century and well beyond. of prosperity of the inhabitants of Valleta and the surrounding Skilled labourers depended increasingly on the Britsh services areas. for their livelihood. This fuctuated in line with the internatonal politcal By the 1860s Malta had become the chief Britsh naval situaton and the military threats facing Britain.7 The island staton, supply depot and repair base in the Mediterranean. The fourished in tmes of war, for example, spending increased in Admiralty contnually expanded its area and property within the afermath of the batle of Navarino in 1827, and during the the harbour. Besides Dockyard Creek it also moved into nearby Crimean war in the 1850s. The crews of the feet poured large French Creek and Corradino on the other side of Senglea. sums of money into the local economy.8 Besides government This part of the harbour was traditonally used for mercantle and military expenditure, there was also personal spending. actvity, which was now obliged shif further inside the harbour

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Valleta Marina in the late 19th century

towards Marsa.10 In the late 1850s Maltese Crown Advocate built forts and other defence posts in the rest of Malta, expanding oversaw the purchase of private property in beyond the environs of the harbour to other strategic points French Creek for the Admiralty, while Governor John Gaspard le around the island. The naval base and the army were major Marchant initated plans for the new commercial port at Marsa, employers in Malta. The other principal source of employment to include facilites for loading and unloading as well as storage.11 was the public service, which had almost 1,000 employees by As part of this transacton, the Admiralty later also agreed to 1860 with most of its departments based in Valleta. Within the hand over to the civil government the Ordnance Ofce and the literate and middle classes, as well as some of the old nobility, adjoining buildings in Valleta, in front of the opera house.12 many hoped for a secure job with the public service.13 Besides The navy contnued to construct more docks and facilites limited commercial actvity, the professions and agriculture over the years, ofering employment for Maltese workers and (which ofen subsisted on a thread), there were not that many encouraging increasing numbers to move into the harbour other jobs available. towns. Sanitaton and housing conditons deteriorated further. In 1809 the large hall and some other rooms of the Valleta Besides building the docks, the Britsh also strengthened military university, the Collegium Melitense, were segregated from the defences around the harbour to keep the feet safe, such as rest of the building and let to the Britsh merchant community to Lascaris Batery at the Valleta Marina in the 1850s. They also be used ‘as a meetng place or Bourse’.14 The lease was for eight

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years, with an optonal further eight years. The entrance to these in July 1849 was harshly critcized in both the Maltese and the new Commercial Rooms was in St Paul Street (Strada San Paolo), Britsh press.18 More O’Ferrall was badly afected by this widely- and they occupied the same premises as the Banco Anglo publicized incident and he lef Malta in 1850 citng ill-health. Maltese.15 In his guide book of Malta of 1839, Thomas MacGill While he was unpopular with certain pro-Italian sectons of described these chambers at the university, writng that, Maltese society and the liberal press in England, the members of the chamber of commerce regreted his departure and tried In 1809 Sir Alex. Ball granted the court-yards, and a to persuade him to stay. considerable part of the building, to the mercantle body here, to form an exchange; since that period, the merchants have assembled there; – they receive many newspapers from diferent countries; and are liberal, in admitng to the perusal of them, all strangers, and ofcers on the Island; the entrance is from Strada San Paolo, and within the premises, is the Anglo Malta Bankʼ; immediately opposite, in Strada St Paolo, is another Bank, called the Malta Bank; those banks, which are of great utlity to trade, are simply banks of deposit and discount.16

In 1809 Malta was enjoying a high amount of commercial actvity, concentrated in the Grand Harbour of Valleta, partly due to the contnental blockade. Trade quietened down afer the severe epidemic of bubonic plague in 1813, which started on an infected ship and spread throughout the harbour area. Commerce in Malta struggled to rise to its former levels in the following decades. The Commercial Rooms in St Paul Street were established by the Society of Britsh Merchants, and Maltese merchants only began to be admited there in 1822.17 The Commitee of Maltese Merchants or Casino San Giorgio was then set up in 1823, taking premises in Palace Square (Piazza San Giorgio). The Irish Catholic Richard More O’Ferrall was governor of Malta in the late 1840s. He is well remembered for having encouraged the setng up of a chamber of commerce in Malta. He also introduced various legislatve and policy reforms which helped trade and improved the economy. Unfortunately, there was also Portrait of Sir less successful side to his governorship. His adamant refusal Alexander Ball to allow a group of Italian politcal refugees to land in Malta (Ministry for )

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A new chamber of commerce was set up in December 1848 raised from among the chamber’s members and Michelangelo Opposite: during More O’Ferrall's governorship, bringing both Britsh and Azzopardi was chosen as the building contractor to execute Courtyard of the Borsa – today Maltese merchants together under the same roof. This new the works, which were completed in 1857. The building was the Chamber insttuton was essentally a merger of the Society of Britsh constructed in a Neo-Classical design, and the infuence of the of Commerce, Merchants and the Casino San Giorgio, and frst began operatng Scotsh architect Robert Adam has been suggested.25 Bonavia Enterprise and Industry in the old Borsa premises in St Paul Street.19 The chamber also designed the Neo-Gothic Presbyterian in South immediately planned to set up a new exchange building which Street, Valleta, during the same years. A house in the narrow would also include the two banks actve in Malta at that tme – Frederick Street, directly behind the New Exchange, was also the Banco Anglo Maltese and the Banco di Malta. annexed to it. This house also formerly belonged to the Langue The frst two Valleta sites that were considered for the of Castlle and León. new exchange were a house opposite the Auberge d’Auvergne The proportons of the New Exchange, also known as , near St John’s co-cathedral, and another in Palace Square. The were grand and prestgious, with a large portco, wide staircase, superintendent of public works, William Lamb Arrowsmith, high ceilings, a ballroom and a spacious central courtyard which drew up some plans, and Governor Sir William Reid referred was later roofed over. The mid-1850s were a boom period for the request to the Council of Government.20 Both sites were commerce and trade in Malta, mainly due to the Crimean war. The rejected as unsuitable and a third site at 65 Republic Street was building was ofcially opened at a large ceremony on Saturday proposed, in a large old palace then occupied by Major Mitord, 11 April 1857, and a Grand Ball was held two days later. The New the maggiore di piazza. An image of this building is captured Exchange was opened for normal business on Monday 20 April. in a watercolour of 1815 by Charles Frederick de Brocktorf.21 The building also included a Casino della Borsa or social club for Together with the rest of their property, once the knights ‘all the respectable classes of Maltese society.’ The inital aims lef Malta this old palace had devolved to the government. of the club were ‘Conversaton, Newspaper Reading, Card and It formerly belonged to the Langue of Castlle and León of the Billiard Rooms’.26 Numerous similar clubs fourished in Valleta at Order of St John and was leased to Balì Zarzana untl 1798.22 this period. Popular social events, including luncheons, dinners, During the brief French rule of Malta, Major General Claude- dances, partes and balls were frequently held at the Casino Henri de Vaubois ordered that accommodaton should be over the years untl well into the twenteth century, and it was found for the military and naval units as well as senior ofcers, considered to be a prestgious venue.27 While the professional preferably in large houses, the houses of unmarried persons, or interests of the chamber contnued to evolve and grow, the club- those belonging to former knights of the Order of St John. At the like atmosphere of the place had died down by the tme Malta tme, this building was given as accommodaton to General Jean achieved independence in the 1960s. The billiard room was Antoine Dejean.23 converted into ofces in 1969. In 2008 the insttuton took on Major Mitord moved out in June 1854 and the palace was its new name as Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and given to the chamber of commerce at the rent of £30 per year.24 Industry afer one of the major milestones of its recent history, Instead of refurbishing their newly-acquired premises, the a merger with the Malta Federaton of Industry.28 members of the chamber decided to demolish it and construct In the 1870s, among 141,775 listed inhabitants of Malta a new, purpose-built exchange. A call for proposals was issued, around 10,000 worked in commerce, 2,290 worked in the and a design put forward by (1821-85) was professions, and 1,210 belonged to the clergy. A further 2,133 chosen. Bonavia was a talented Maltese architect who had were landowners. Apart from the civil servants, most of rest worked with the Royal Engineers. Funds for the building were were working class, or the ‘poorer’ classes, the majority of

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whom were illiterate.29 During the tme of the Order, the these government projects was the Camerata block in the lower Maltese populaton had come to depend on a paternalistc form part of Valleta, built in the early 1860s and stll in use today. This of government. The Colonial Ofce in London in the nineteenth block was intended to house around 800 persons in apartments. century, on the other hand, held that the poverty and lack of It was built around a central courtyard, with good ventlaton self-sufciency of the island was the result of paternalism and and light, as well as a water supply.34 resisted this model. But successive governors, familiar with Valleta sufered from severe epidemics of cholera in 1837, the difcult reality of life in Valleta and the rest of Malta, felt 1850, 1865, and 1887, killing hundreds throughout Malta.35 Due that they could not ignore Maltese welfare and that exploitng to poor sanitaton, urban areas were especially badly afected. the strategic resources of the island should involve a cost for The outbreak in 1865 was followed by severe drought, which Britain.30 This debate underpinned and slowed down many added to the hardship.36 Despite objectons from the Treasury in economic and politcal decisions of the day. The other obstacle London, Governor Bouverie had already embarked on a scheme to progress was the insistence of the Colonial Ofce on treatng to improve the water supply of Valleta and the Three Cites Malta as a military fortress, which held back politcal reform afer two severe droughts in less than six years in the 1830s, on the island and resulted in considerable agitaton among the but the situaton remained precarious and there were frequent Maltese as the years went by. water shortages. To alleviate the abject living conditons of the lower classes, the government distributed alms31 and invested in charitable insttutons. The Ospizio, a home for vulnerable people such as the poor, elderly and infrm, had frst been established in around 1730 by the Order of St John outside the city walls in Floriana. When Malta was ruled by the Order of St John, secular and In the 1880s this facility was considered inadequate and was religious power were fused together. In line with the ideas replaced by a new Asylum for the Aged and Incurables in , of Republican France, the brief French rule over Malta in the today St Vincent de Paule Hospital. A central role in tending to late eighteenth century had introduced a separaton between the needs of the poor was also played by the Maltese Roman the role and powers of State and Church. This distncton was . A new Lunatc Asylum was built at Wied Incita maintained by the Britsh as they came to govern the island. in Atard, today Mount Carmel Hospital, and completed in 1861. The colonial government in Malta followed a policy of Due to overcrowding in Valleta, it was not possible to respectng established religious practces, partcularly Roman develop these charitable insttutons within the city itself. A lack Catholicism as the dominant . The Britsh of space was also partly why the naval hospital was built on the professed tolerance and non-interference in religious maters, other side of the harbour in the 1830s.32 The former slave however the Maltese were always wary of any potental atempts in Valleta had served as a naval hospital untl 1819, before it to assert Protestantsm on the island. But the Britsh were frst moved to Birgu and then to the new premises at Bighi.33 mainly interested in Malta for strategic reasons, and were keen By 1860 the housing shortage and lack of sanitaton around to maintain good relatons with the Church authorites in Malta. Opposite: the harbour was critcal. Sanitaton and its role in preventng For the frst tme in Malta’s history, in the nineteenth century Elevaton of St contagious disease and improving public health was a major the bishops of Malta were chosen from among the Maltese Paul’s Pro-cathedral concern in Victorian society. Under Governor Le Marchant populaton and were not foreigners. They therefore tended to by 37 (Wignacourt several sites were proposed for new dwellings for people with be relatvely pro-Britsh. The archbishop also maintained a Museum, Rabat) low incomes in Valleta and its suburb Floriana. The largest of residence in Valleta. In 1835 when Britsh Malta’s frst Council

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of Government was established at the Palace in Valleta, the seat of government, the bishop of Malta was also given an ofcial nominaton. Bishop Francesco Saverio Caruana (1759-1847) refused to occupy his seat as he objected to taking the oath.38 Apart from the , Roman Catholicism played a central role in the growing sense of Maltese natonal identty which was emerging in the nineteenth century. The Britsh were fully aware of the strength of feeling of the Maltese on this subject. The frst Protestant church in Valleta, the Anglican church of St Paul, was not completed before 1844 when the Britsh had already been in Malta nearly half a century. As the number of Britsh residents and visitors in Malta increased during the nineteenth century, the lack of suitable spaces to conduct Protestant religious services in Valleta was soon felt. The frst idea was to construct a church at the end of Republic Street, probably somewhere near Fort St Elmo, however acquiring a suitable site proved difcult and costly.39 In 1825 George Whitmore (1775-1862) created designs for a new church to be built in East Street (Strada Levante) where it would be visible and accessible to visitors entering Valleta through the Porta Marina (formerly Porta Del Monte) entrance on the Grand Harbour side of the city.40 The chosen site was near the , in an open space near the old prison formerly known as the ‘bagno degli schiavi’. Part of the prison wall and an adjacent house began to be removed to make way for the new church, however the plan was abandoned due to high costs and structural setbacks.41 This area was badly bombed during the second world war and social housing was constructed on the site.42 In the 1820s the Britsh also considered convertng a Catholic church in Valleta, one among those which had belonged to the Order of St John and which the Colonial Ofce now held as government property. Among others, potental churches included the Jesuit church, St James church and the conventual church of St John. While the Jesuits church was seriously considered for conversion to a Protestant place of worship, a pertnent problem was the number of Catholics already buried in there as well as its numerous private altars, ‘the proprietors of

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which would need to be indemnifed’. This church was also used 41), who was appointed superintendent of public works in Opposite: by Roman Catholic Britsh soldiers. St James church, formerly of 1838. Problems developed as Lankesheer was not adequately Neo-Classical façade of St Paul’s the Langue of Castlle of the Order of St John, was also looked familiar with Maltese constructon methods and materials to Pro-cathedral, at. No Catholics were buried there, which was advantageous, undertake such a large project, and did not have the required designed by however the building was too small.43 Eventually the idea of training. The new building soon began to display serious faults. William Scamp convertng an existng church was rejected to avoid causing Lankesheer was taken of the job and replaced by the Admiralty ofence, ‘as it would militate severely against the prejudices of architect William Scamp in 1841, who redesigned and rebuilt the the ’.44 defectve structure. Scamp was also in charge of constructng Protestant services in Valleta contnued to be carried the large naval bakery at the Vitoriosa waterfront in 1841-48, out in private houses and in the former kitchen of the Grand today the Malta Maritme Museum.49 Master's Palace. This arrangement was however felt to be Scamp’s church has a large and impressive Neo-Classical wholly inadequate. In 1830 the Protestant populaton in Malta portco looking onto the square, and a side entrance. Its numbered around 700 persons excluding the garrison.45 detached tower with a high spire is today a familiar landmark Protracted discussions and correspondence between the in the skyline of Valleta as seen from the Marsamxet side. governor’s ofce in Malta and the Colonial Ofce in London The church was consecrated in 1844. It now holds the status ensued, considering various sites for the erecton of a new of Pro-cathedral and is stll in regular use by the Protestant Protestant church. In 1836 the director of works in Malta, John community in Malta. In 1842 the see of was established, McKenzie, drew the outline of a plan for a church on the site exercising jurisdicton over the Anglican clergy and laity resident of the so-called Auberge d’Angleterre.46 Another suggeston was in Gibraltar and Malta, as well as in other places around the the market site in Merchants Street, however this would have Mediterranean. While Valleta would have been a more central necessitated the building of a new market elsewhere.47 locaton for the see to be established, Gibraltar was chosen to Dowager Queen Adelaide (1792-1849) visited Malta in the not ofend the existng Roman Catholic bishopric of Malta.50 late 1830s and ofered to pay for the erecton of a new Protestant The frst bishop of Gibraltar was George Tomlinson, who held church on the island. This prompted the Governor of Malta, this post from 1842 untl his death in Malta in 1863.51 Upon his Sir (1783-1852), to ofer a site in Independence appointment Tomlinson pledged to reside in Gibraltar or Malta Square (Piazza Celsi) for the building of a new church. This was the for six to eight months each year, and he usually spent this site of the former Auberge d’Allemagne of the German knights tme in Malta during his 20 years as bishop of Gibraltar.52 The of St John, built by the Maltese capomastro Geronimo Cassar in of Gibraltar was held to have a colonial and ‘distnctvely the late sixteenth century. Parts of this old building were being representatve and interpretve character, and a peculiar duty of used as a naval bakery and mill room, and a secton was rented reconciliaton’. It was specifcally not intended to proselytze or out to the Chief Justce, Sir John Stoddart (1773-1856). Bishop interfere with the established jurisdicton of the Roman Catholic Francesco Saverio Caruana (1759-1847) in Malta informed the church.53 Vatcan about these developments and was instructed ‘to use In 1842 a public meetng for Britsh residents was held in all his prudence and wisdom to impede the implementaton of Valleta, to create a fund for the bishopric of Gibraltar and enable the Project.’48 Yet the plan went ahead and Queen Adelaide laid the sending out of Protestant bishops to Malta. The resolutons the foundaton stone in a grand ceremony on 20 March 1839. were moved by Governor Lieutenant-General Sir Henry The Auberge d’Allemagne was demolished and constructon Bouverie, and seconded by the retred diplomat John Hookham began under the supervision of Richard Lankesheer (1803- Frere. It was noted that the permanent Britsh residents in

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St Andrew’s Presbyterian church in South Street, built in a Neo-Gothic style by architect Giuseppe Bonavia in the late 1850s

Valleta ‘far exceed those of our other and setlements held in the name of the vicar. To avoid fricton with the Maltese in the Mediterranean’ and that Britsh visitors were increasing Roman Catholic community, the building was also obliged to look annually.54 A group of Methodists purchased a house and church like a private house rather than a church. In 1843 the building in Street, corner with Old Bakery Street, in Valleta in 1824. was sold to the Free . In 1868 the Methodists At that tme, legal restrictons prevented Protestant religious moved into premises in Strait Street and in the early 1870s the groups in Malta from acquiring property and the house was centre of Methodist actvity shifed from Valleta to a building in

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Piazza Maggiore in Floriana, where the Naval and Military Home of intense actvity in Malta due to the Crimean war, and played for servicemen was set up.55 In 1876 a request was made to the a central role in this initatve. He obtained permission from the governor’s ofce by Reverend John Webster and Reverend John colonial government to build a new Presbyterian church on a Laverack for permission to build a Wesleyean church on a site site in South Street corner with Old Bakery Street, and began near St John Counterguard in Valleta at Windmill Street. It was to seriously fundraise for this purpose. The foundaton stone estmated that around 400 people would make use of these of what was to become St Andrew’s church was laid without a religious facilites. The military authorites had no objecton to public ceremony on 27 June 1856 by John Grant, president of this site as long as it would not obstruct ‘the fre from St John the chamber of commerce. Cavalier’, however Giuseppe , collector of land revenue, The Governor of Malta Sir William Reid (1791-1858), whose objected as the proposed church would obstruct the light and father had been a minister of the Church of Scotland, supported view and reduce the value of the houses opposite, which would the building of this church. The Maltese Bishop Publius Maria revert to government following the expiry of their 99-year lease. Sant (1779-1864) tried to prevent it from being allowed to He pointed out that the tenants may have spent considerable look like a church or include a belfry. Thirty years earlier these money in improving or reconstructng their homes. arguments had successfully obliged the Methodist church in The chief secretary to government Sir Victor Houlton, replied Valleta to resemble a house from the outside. But Reid rejected tersely that the residents may be inconvenienced but ‘in such the bishop’s claims which he viewed as ‘intolerant’. The Malta case would have no more right to complain that I had when Mr Times reported that ‘His Excellency the Governor immediately Casolani built a house of four stories in Strada Mezzodi opposite on applicaton headed the subscripton list with a donaton to mine … and which completely overshadowed and deprived of £50.’58 me as tenant of the house opposite, on a 99-year lease also, of The chosen architect was the Maltese Giuseppe Bonavia … sun and ventlaton’.56 Nonetheless, the idea of constructng a (1821-85) who in 1854 had also been engaged to design Wesleyean church at Windmill Street was abandoned. the Neo-Classical Borsa building for the recently established The Methodists eventually built a large church in a Neo- chamber of commerce in Republic Street. Both buildings were Gothic style in Floriana, designed by architect T.M. Ellis of completed in 1857. While Bonavia had already designed the London and overseen by Webster Paulson (1837-87) from the façade of the Carmelite church in Valleta in 1852, the new Malta public works department.57 Works were completed in St Andrew’s Presbyterian church was the frst building in Valleta 1883. A new Soldier’s and Sailor’s Home was built next to the designed in the Neo-Gothic style, moving away from the usual church in 1908 and named Connaught Hall. The Wesleyean Maltese urban architecture which was stll heavily infuenced by Methodist church in Floriana was transferred to the Maltese Baroque designs and traditons. Soon aferwards Bonavia also government in 1973 and the Methodist community joined up created a Neo-Gothic design for the frst Carmelite church at with the Presbyterians in Valleta. Their former church is now Balluta in St Julian’s. called the Robert Samut Hall and is managed by the Floriana Simon Rose, a wealthy Scotsh merchant residing in Valleta Local Council as a cultural venue. and a member of the chamber of commerce received the Having bought the Valleta premises owned by the subscriptons for the new church, together with John Grant. Methodists in December 1843, the Scotsh Presbyterians used Grant and Rose were both on the commitee supervising the this as a base for some years. It soon proved too small, and executon of Bonavia’s design for the new chamber of commerce money began to be collected to build a new place of worship. building.59 Rose’s Maltese wife Giovanna (Jane) Zimelli was the Reverend John Wisely arrived in Valleta in 1854 during a period sister of Hector Zimelli, then superintendent of public works, who

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Opposite: designed the new covered market in Valleta in 1858. The new representatve of the king, in all the principal churches which The entrance into Presbyterian church was frst opened on 29 December 185760 had previously held a throne for the grand master.61 Although Valleta through in the and is stll in regular use today. The Methodist church moved the king's representatve had the right to use this throne, the early 19th-century there from Floriana in 1974 and it is now the only direct local seat was always lef empty. When Sir Thomas Maitland was showing the old partnership between the Church of Scotland and the Methodist governor of Malta from 1813 to 1824, a second throne was Ferreria on the lef 62 and the Casa alla churches in the world. The church buildings are also regularly erected on the opposite side for the archbishop. In 1816 Giornata on the used by a German-speaking Lutheran congregaton, the Andreas Pius VII conferred the status of cathedral on St John’s and in right, later the site Gemeinde. 1822 Matei requested Maitland to authorize the use of the of the Royal Opera House Another Protestant church, known as the Garrison chapel church as a co-cathedral. Maitland agreed but insisted that this at Castlle Place, was built in Valleta by the Royal Engineers was a favour and ‘the government did not in the smallest degree and completed in 1857. Similar buildings were constructed give up the full and complete Right and Title which it possessed elsewhere in the Britsh Empire and used as schools for the to the property of this Church.’63 children of military and naval personnel, as well as for the Burials taking place in the overcrowded churches and servicemen themselves, and for religious functons. The building crypts of Floriana and Valleta were problematc. In 1812 Civil has a plain façade with corner pilasters, a two-column portco Commissioner wrote a leter to the bishop and a small bell-cot. Unusually for Malta, it has a pitched roof. It of Malta asking for his cooperaton in restrictng burials in the was constructed on the Valleta fortfcatons next to the Upper churches of Valleta. As advised by the commitee of public Barrakka Gardens, overlooking the Grand Harbour. Initally health, burials in Valleta churches were to be restricted to the building served as a school during the week and a mult- persons and families owning a private grave. The general denominatonal place of worship on Sundays. It contnued to populaton should be buried in the public cemetery owned by be used for religious functons untl around 1950. It served as the Università of Valleta and atached to the church of St Publius a military social club and later became the Malta Central Mail in Floriana.64 In 1811 a Britsh visitor to Malta was dismayed by Room. In 1999 it was taken over by the Malta . the ‘awful’ cemetery he saw at St Publius, which he described Like all other buildings which had belonged to the Order of as a ‘large vaulted cemetery with 365 graves, all numbered and St John, the Roman Catholic churches of the knights in Valleta fagged over; each is to contain ten bodies; they are arranged did not devolve to the Maltese Church afer the departure for the recepton of the poorer classes. One is opened every day of the knights but were considered as state property. This in succession, and all the middle and lower classes are buried included the former conventual church of the Order, the richly here. They are not allowed cofns, but come dressed in their decorated and prestgious St John’s church together with all best clothes, and are thus deposited bodies, whether somewhat its treasures. This led to some wrangling and discontent over perfect (which sometmes happens) or all bones, are then taken claims to religious property between the Britsh and the Maltese up and thrown into a large vault; there I saw millions of bones – Church authorites. The later held that St John’s should have an awful lesson for contemplaton!’65 In 1869 burials in churches devolved to them. The grand master of the Order of St John and crypts were fnally prohibited in Valleta, Floriana and was authorized by the pope to have a throne in the church, on the Three Cites. This was done in agreement with the Church the right of the main altar and within the railings. In 1808 Civil authorites and coincided with the opening of the large new Commissioner Sir Alexander Ball came to an arrangement with Addolorata cemetery in Paola in the 1860s, designed in a Neo- the Maltese Archbishop Ferdinando Matei, whereby a throne Gothic style by Maltese architect Emmanuele Luigi Galizia. The displaying His Majesty’s Arms would be reserved for the Britsh government also atempted to extend this prohibiton to other

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303 encounters with valletta - a baroque city through the ages

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towns and villages of Malta in the 1890s but ‘met with great and that ‘the substtuton of the English language by Italian is Opposite: oppositon from the country people who opposed interment another means of ataining that end’.70 The Catholic Church in Old photographs 66 of 19th-century outside their churches.’ Protestant burials had already been Malta was convinced that knowledge of the English language Valleta depictng taking place outside the Valleta city walls since the frst days would be used as a tool to spread the Protestant religion and the road leading of Britsh rule in Malta. The frst Protestant cemetery was strongly opposed it. to City Gate (top lef), Republic established at Msida Baston in Floriana. Once this proved too Square with garden small for the community, the Britsh government ordered the (botom lef) and constructon of a new cemetery at Ta’ Braxia in Pieta in the Educaton St John Street (right) 1850s, which was also designed by Galizia. A well-known incident in Valleta where religious sensitvites Maltese concerns about Protestantsm were stll very prevalent were upset was triggered by Sir Patrick Stuart who was governor in the last years of the nineteenth century, and were linked to from 1843 to 1847. Stuart was a staunch Presbyterian, and the controversial politcizaton of language in tri-lingual Malta disapproved strongly of holding festvites on the and the so-called ‘language queston’.71 By the 1870s the Britsh Sabbath. In 1846 he forbade the use of masks on Carnival government was pushing forward the teaching of English and Sunday. This provoked a strong reacton from the Maltese, Maltese in schools, thereby suppressing the learning of Italian. who considered this to be ‘an act of Protestant oppression In the early decades of the Britsh presence in Malta, the and despotc interference with the Catholic religion.’67 Violent government had not tried hard to anglicize the populaton. But scufes ensued among people demonstratng in the streets of in the late 1850s a new compettve examinaton for entry to Valleta. The crowds grabbed and smashed some of the pipes the public service was introduced, which was the frst of its kind and drums of the 42nd Regiment who were beatng a retreat in the Britsh empire.72 One of the requirements of the exam on Palace Square. The secretary of state in London, William was knowledge of English, which quickly made learning the Gladstone, asserted that it would have been more prudent had language more desirable for the literate Maltese. English was Stuart consulted the archbishop of Malta before proceeding also an important asset for skilled labourers seeking work at with his order. He directed Stuart not to renew a similar order the dockyards. Maltese was the language spoken by the large the following year unless he had a writen agreement from the majority of the populaton, but its orthography was very fuid Maltese Church authorites on the mater.68 untl well into the twenteth century. Italian was the language In 1899 an Ant-Masonic League (Unione Antmassonica) was of educaton, and was mainly restricted to the literate middle set up under the patronage of Maltese Archbishop Pietro Pace. and upper classes. Although knowledge of Italian was more Meetngs were held at the bishop’s palace in Valleta, with the widespread than English, it was stll quite limited. A census archbishop taking an actve part in the proceedings. Its members carried out in 1861 recorded the total populaton of Malta included prominent Maltese members of the professional classes, and Gozo as 134,055 persons. Of these, 6,355 men and 2,214 such as Judges Paolo Debono and Luigi Ganado; Emmanuele women were identfed as being able to speak English, and 4,385 Luigi Galizia, former superintendent of public works; Fortunato men and 1,918 women could also write the language. Italian Mizzi, editor of the Gazzeta di Malta and member of the Council was somewhat more widespread, with 10,305 men and 4,981 of Government; as well as Dr Salvatore Castaldi and Dr Vincenzo women able to speak it, and 8,785 men and 4,797 women able Frendo Azzopardi.69 This group held that freemasonry in Malta to write it. The same census listed 1,270 as the total number was not a harmless insttuton and was aimed at ‘oustng the of English residents of Malta, excluding the garrison, with only religion of our forefathers and supplantng it by Protestantsm’ 11 in Gozo.73

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During the turbulent years of the Italian Risorgimento, a small community of politcal actvists had taken refuge in Valleta, escaping persecuton and imprisonment in and . In Valleta they contnued with their clandestne politcal agitaton for the unifcaton of Italy, setng up printng presses and newspapers, and gathering arms and support. These refugees integrated into Maltese society, partcularly among the pro-Italian professional classes. Already by the 1840s some educated Maltese were supportng Italian unifcaton as seen in newspapers such as Il Mediterraneo.74 Afer the dramatc politcal events of 1860 on the Italian peninsula, Britain began to fear that the loyalty of the Maltese populaton might be swayed towards Italy. This gave impetus to their drive to promote the English language in Malta and to suppress the use of Italian in schools. The state of elementary educaton in Malta was very poor for a large part of the nineteenth century. During their two- year governance of the island from 1798 to 1800, the French had unsuccessfully planned to establish new schools teaching the and culture. The university in Valleta was replaced with the École Centrale, but this shut down in December 1798 during the blockade of Valleta.75 The French administraton had tried to send 60 Maltese youths between the ages of nine to fourteen ‘from among the wealthiest families’ to study in Paris. Their parents were to provide them with an allowance of 800 francs and 600 francs for their journey. They would be given uniforms and travel on men-of-war to Marseille. Another six youths were to be enrolled as naval cadets. Parents who refused would be fned 1,000 scudi. But this initatve proved difcult to implement as Maltese families invented every excuse to ensure that their sons stayed in Malta.76 Civil Commissioner Alexander Ball reopened the university in Valleta in October 1800 afer two years of closure, and in 1826 a new Neo-Classical entrance was inserted into the old building in line with the Britsh tastes of the day. But for several decades the Britsh authorites did not pay much atenton or dedicate any resources to improving elementary schooling in Malta. Educaton was not compulsory and working-class parents

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encouraged their children to seek employment early.77 The in Valleta and the harbour towns.82 In 1901 the government Opposite: situaton became so dire that a commission was sent to Malta in banned all public politcal meetngs within the precincts of Entrance to the Collegium Melitense 1836, led by George Cornewall Lewis and John Austn. Besides Valleta, Floriana and the Three Cites, arguing that these were in St Paul Street, the university in Valleta there was also the lyceum, a higher an integral part of the fortress with their fortfcatons and remodelled in a secondary school. Only one state primary school operated in armed services establishments.83 In response, the Maltese held Neo-Classical style in the early 19th Valleta when the commissioners arrived in Malta, and there two large politcal meetngs outside Floriana in the open space century was another in Senglea across the harbour.78 at Ta’ Braxia, close to the Protestant cemetery, protestng about Small private schools also ofered some teaching, but school questons related to language and taxes. The clergy were also buildings were inadequate and badly equipped. Teachers were present. These meetngs ended up as ant-Britsh manifestatons barely trained and the majority of the Maltese populaton with the crowds defying the government by entering Valleta was illiterate. Recommendatons for improvements were put despite the ban.84 forward and there was gradual progress. Between 1847 and 1891, the school populaton trebled, with almost 30% of the student populaton based in Valleta and another 39% in the Leisure Three Cites across the harbour.79 By 1881 in a populaton of 149,782 there were 10,281 Besides the realites of the economy, politcs, educaton persons who could read English, the majority of whom lived in and poverty, the social life of Valleta was very actve, with a Valleta and the harbour towns, and 16,817 persons who could contnuous stream of occasions and visits to celebrate. A young read Italian. There was a distnct diference between the urban naval ofcer remarked drily that in the early 1860s, ‘unless populaton around the Valleta harbour and the more rural the ships are in the sailors have litle to do, and the soldiers … populaton in the rest of Malta. comparatvely nothing, there are a great many entertainments, Together with the language queston, taxes were another and everybody meets everybody else at least twice a day.’85 highly sensitve topic. In 1877 the government recommended Besides evenings at the theatre, social life in Valleta for the reducing the grain tax and recouping the loss in revenue from Britsh and the Maltese upper classes included balls, dinners, new taxes on other goods. This caused such unrest that a fancy dress partes, musical and theatrical events. Many of crowd of around 2,000 Maltese gathered in Valleta, smashed these events were held at the where the windows and disrupted proceedings in the Council chamber. Union Club established its premises in 1826. The garrison also Politcal actvist Sigismondo Savona supported the aboliton of hosted dinners and dances at the Auberge de Castlle. One of the bread tax as, in his view, it enabled the government ‘to lord the favourites partes of the year was the annual fancy dress it over the country’ and efect ‘all their pety schemes for the ball in February during Carnival, hosted by the governor at the embellishment of Valleta.’80 Palace and to which up to 900 guests would be invited.86 Tempers fared high among the Maltese on the politcal Visitng dignitaries or military ofcers were honoured with front, ofen linked to the language queston. In 1880 the Maltese balls and dinners in Valleta. Besides the civil government, the natonalist party was founded ‘to fght anglicizaton with the central role of the garrison in Malta is readily observed in the weapon of italianità’. 81 details of such visits, which give a sense of the atmosphere of Politcs was led by the professional classes and the clergy. the tme. Band clubs and religious fraternites provided social points of In 1827 Admiral Sir Edward Codrington reached the Valleta contact, but partcipaton in politcs was concentrated primarily harbour. On leaving his ship the Asia he was loudly cheered by

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the crew, as well as by other ships of the combined feet. As Auberge de Provence where he danced with the daughters of he landed on the Customs House mole he was greeted by the a rear-admiral. St Andrew’s Day was celebrated in 1844 with a principal civil and military ofcers of the government and the big dinner in the large hall, or the mess-room, of the Auberge garrison, and a salute was fred from Fort St Angelo. He then met de Castlle by the ofcers of the Black Watch, the 42nd Regiment the governor at the Palace, and a ball was given at the Auberge of Royal Highlanders. Governor Sir Patrick Stuart atended and de Provence in honour of the batle of Navarin.87 In 1831 the during the meal the instrumental band of the regiment played French frigate Artemese arrived in Malta, with the Prince of Scotsh tunes alternately with the band of pipes, with ffeen Joinville on board for his nautcal educaton, the third son of pipers marching in fle around the table. The pipe-major played King Louis Philippe of France. He was only a young teenager, but from a pair of silver pipes presented to the regiment afer the he was honoured with salutes, manning of yards, reviewing of batle of Waterloo.90 troops, state visits and state dinners. The French consul in Malta The 42nd Regiment of the Royal Highlanders were in acton gave a ball in his honour ‘on a splendid scale’ at the Auberge de again at the Auberge de Castlle with a Grand Ball in January Provence.88 1847, one of the ‘most splendid balls ever witnessed in the In 1839 Dowager Queen Adelaide spent some tme in Malta garrison’ which was atended by both Britsh residents as well as for health reasons. Every day she would walk along the Valleta ‘all the elite of Malta’, described in the Britsh press as follows: bastons overlooking the harbours, or drive out into the country. She was invited to many dinners and partes, including an ‘elegant ... the whole of the vast Auberge de Castlle, its noble soirée given in her honour by Colonel McDonald, commanding entrance, double staircases, vestbules, spacious the 92nd Highlanders, at the Auberge de Castlle. The queen’s saloons, galleries, corridors, all profusely and most carriage took her to the auberge and a guard of honour stood elegantly draperied, and tastefully embellished with on the illuminated grand staircase as she went upstairs. In the transparencies, coloured lamps, illuminatons, military large mess-room upstairs a theatrical stage was set up for the trophies, arms arranged in a variety of devices, occasion, and the ‘natonal drama of Rob Roy was admirably regimental standards, bearing the names of many well- performed by the amateur soldiers of the regiment.’ She was fought felds crowned with victory, royal standards, then taken by Governor Sir Henry Bouverie to the colonel’s and natonal colours of all sorts, were thrown open apartments in the auberge, where a large dinner party was held. to the guests. At a litle afer nine the company began Then it was back to the mess-room for the dancing of quadrilles, to assemble, soon afer which dancing commenced. waltzes and the natonal reel. The dowager queen herself gave Refreshments of every descripton, and of the most an evening party at the Palace ‘to which the nobility and gentry elegant kinds, were abundantly supplied.91 of Malta were invited.’ Dinner was served in the Tapestry Room at eleven o’clock and there was dancing in the Hall of St Michael In November that year, the ofcers of the garrison gave a Grand and St George untl the early hours of the morning.89 There was Ball and supper at the Auberge de Provence, atended by two an actve social life in Valleta. admirals and a great number of naval ofcers. On the anniversary That same year Prince George visited Malta and of the batle of Navarino, the admirals and captains of squadron accompanied the governor ‘in the half-yearly inspecton of celebrated with a dinner. On the anniversary of the batle of the several regiments in garrison’. The prince then ‘honoured Trafalgar, the ofcers of the Trafalgar gave a ball on board their the ofcers of the garrison with his presence at a ball’ at the ship in the Valleta harbour.92 And in this style the social life of

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Valleta carried on and on. The economist Nassau William Senior (1790-1864) dined at the Palace and noted that among the large number present all the guests were military or naval, except for Crown Advocate Adrian Dingli.93 But besides the Britsh ofcers, civil servants and residents, the guest lists ofen also included infuental Maltese high-ranking professionals, businessmen, civil servants, politcians and nobles. In the streets outside, as we have seen, the majority of people lived in poverty. Besides the balls and dinners hosted at the Palace and the main auberges, similar occasions were also held at the social clubs in Valleta, partcularly at the Union Club and from the 1850s onwards also at the new chamber of commerce. Many events were atended by both Britsh and Maltese residents of Valleta. These clubs were an important element of social life in Valleta at this period. There were also other forms of cultural actvity. For the more educated classes of society, admiring the remains and sculpture of antquity was increasingly fashionable. During the eighteenth century, Britsh travellers to Italy, following the typical routes of the Grand Tour, increasingly began to devote tme and energy to viewing, as well as purchasing, remains from classical Greek and Roman culture as well as other periods of ancient history. Neo- Classicism soon dominated architectural trends in Britain, which contnued untl well into the Victorian period. In 1812 Civil Commissioner Hildebrand Oakes established a small museum of antquites at the public library in Valleta, Society of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce in Valleta, Opposite: displaying a collecton of archaeological artefacts gathered from modelled on a similar insttuton in London. This society organized Early 20th-century military parade all over Malta, to make them more accessible for visitors and compettons and exhibitons on a regular basis and awarded in Palace Square, antquarians to view.94 The library of the Order of St John, which medals and prizes. Contnuing this initatve, Malta partcipated Valleta was in the Conservatory and not in the Biblioteca constructed in internatonal exhibitons including the Paris exhibiton of 1867 by Stefano Itar in 1796, had also housed a small collecton of and the Colonial and Indian Exhibiton of 1886.96 archaeological artefacts from 1760 onwards. This was open to The religious feast days which doted the cultural calendar the public and several visitors lef records of its contents.95 were partcularly important for the Maltese, with street Natonal exhibitons of art, crafs and industry were processions and general festvity. Carnival was a big annual event fashionable from the mid-nineteenth century onwards. in Valleta. Popular boat regatas were staged in the harbour. Sir William Reid, who became governor of Malta in 1851, had Band clubs were also centres of musical actvity, at all levels of been the chairman of the commitee of the Great Exhibiton Valleta society. Wide patronage was extended to such clubs. in London, in which Malta partcipated. Reid set up the Malta On one occasion, the commitee of the King’s Own band with

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Opposite: over 600 people boarded the steamship Calabria in the Valleta Hardly any houses in the city had private gardens and most were Aerial view from harbour and went on a tour to Catania in Sicily to celebrate the restricted to internal courtyards. The Order of St John had usually across the ditch of 97 Valleta showing anniversary of the composer Bellini. established their summer houses and gardens outside Valleta. In Hastngs Gardens on Catering and accommodaton also expanded at this period. the early seventeenth century, however, Grand Master Lascaris St John Baston with Numerous hotels and restaurants were established in Valleta in had built himself a garden and villa on the Valleta bastons near the cavalier in the background the nineteenth century. In 1839 a Britsh visitor noted that thirty the Marina, which became known as Ġnien is-Sultan or the years previously it was necessary to depend on the hospitality Giardino Marina. But the villa was demolished and the garden of English residents to have dinner, but now it was possible to dramatcally reduced in the 1850s, in a bid to strengthen the eat out at various places.98 Café society was thriving, with cofee harbour defences. shops in Republic Street serving sorbets and ices favoured with The knights had also cultvated a botanic garden in the ditch chocolate and cofee or various fruits and berries. The ice was of Fort St Elmo in Valleta and close to the hospital, with plants brought to Malta from Mount Etna in Sicily in boats. mostly grown in stone containers. This was stll in use untl around wine, liquors and a wide variety of drinks were available. In 1860 1800.102 This space was however quite limited, and in the frst the cofee room overlooking Victoria Gardens (Republic Square) years of the century Alexander Ball shifed the Orto Botanico served aerated soda water, lemonade, ginger, magnesia water to Floriana. In 1855 it was relocated to nearby gardens, today and all sorts of other beverages.99 Argot Gardens, which had belonged to the knight Fra Ignazio Businessmen imported foodstufs to Valleta, with some Argote de Guzman and formerly also to Fra Manuel Pinto de items clearly catering for their Britsh clientele, such as Twining’s Fonseca. Ball also began convertng the Maglio in Floriana, teas, Fortnum and Mason’s jams, jellies, cocoa, chocolate paste formerly an area where the knights played recreatonal games, and powder, crystallized fruits and Malaga raisins.100 In 1886 into a garden. Nicola Zammit noted that Valleta had 23 hotels and restaurants, From early in the century, the Britsh set about embellishing 15 clubs and kazini, two gymnasiums and three libraries with choice spots along the Valleta bastons with plants and reading rooms.101 Some places also ofered billiard tables and monuments to create public gardens. Apart from the importance the Windsor Castle Hotel in Zachary Street (Strada Zaccaria) of the monuments, these gardens were also intended as ‘places had a tea garden and a ‘museum of curiosites’. Most hotels and of social gathering’.103 In 1809 a Neo-Classical monument restaurants had English proprietors but there were also some dedicated to Sir Alexander Ball in the style of a Grecian temple French, Italian and Maltese owners. was built at the Lower Barrakka Gardens. It was designed by When the weather got too hot, many Britsh residents lef the Maltese artst and embellished with work by city. Sliema and St Julian’s on the other side of the Marsamxet sculptor . harbour became increasingly popular as summer resorts, and a In the 1820s there were no trees yet along the bastons permanent ferry service to Sliema began in the 1880s. Bathing bordering Windmill Street (Strada Molina), named afer the sheds, with small pools cut into the rock for dipping into the sea, windmills close by. Yet when the Marquis of Hastng died in were constructed along the Marsamxet side of Valleta as well Malta his monument was placed there, in what later became as at Sliema. Summers by the sea were pleasant, and in winter Hastngs Gardens, as the spot was deemed suitable for creatng it was popular to go out of Valleta for a ride or picnic in the an atractve, or ‘ornamental’, public walkway.104 The Ponsonby countryside or at the small woodlands at Busket (Boscheto) in column on the Marsamxet side of Valleta was erected in 1838. Rabat, to escape the overcrowding and dirt of the city. There These important monuments, placed high on the imposing were very few public gardens for relaxaton in Valleta itself. fortfcatons of the city, were ‘not only points of reference in

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modern, stylistc trends but collectvely a powerful colonial style. Paul Xuereb notes that the theatre ‘as we know it probably statement’.105 In 1839, a Britsh guidebook noted that ‘since owes its appearance to Oakes and Whitmore even more than the English became masters, the proud bastons of Valleta to Vilhena and Carapecchia.’109 Many of the performances at have become sepulchral.’106 The ‘new’ Barrakka, today the this period were Italian operas, with ‘God Save the King’ played Upper Barrakka, on the Baston of St Peter and St Paul, was during the intermission with everyone standing up to sing. The also developed as a garden with walkways and monuments. theatre was also used regularly for balls and for loteries.110 The Order of St John had already embellished this atractve In the 1860s the Council of Government chose a design for space with a row of large arches, but the site was remodelled a new opera house by architect , who by George Whitmore in 1824 and opened up to the public. had built the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden in London Governor Thomas Maitland was buried there. The wide view only a few years earlier. He had trained under Britsh architect over the harbour from this garden was much admired. When Thomas Henry Wyat who originally designed the home for the Prince of Wales visited Valleta in 1876 he was taken to the elderly at Mgieret, today St Vincent de Paule Hospital. the to see ‘a magnifcent illuminaton Discussions between Barry and the Council were handled by of the dockyard and the entre circuit of the Valeta harbour’, Crown Advocate Sir Adrian Dingli, who had also played a similar staged to honour his visit: role in discussions about the new covered market in Valleta and the new lunatc asylum in Atard in the 1850s.111 The government All along the bastons, troops stood closely ranged with was accused of spending excessive funds on a project which was coloured lights. Two thousand Chinese lanterns had been only of interest to a privileged sector of society, and neglectng distributed among the boats plying the harbour. The the needs of the poor.112 The ofcial opening of the new opera ships of war and several yachts were illuminated at the house in Valleta took place on 9 October 1866 to a full house. masts and yards, the portholes throwing up thousands of The natonal anthem was sung ‘by the theatrical company and beautful and repeatedly changing tnted lights.107 played jointly by the resident orchestra and a military band, the later statoned on the stage, with the fags of Malta and Britain Another chief source of entertainment in nineteenth-century as backdrops. During the singing of the anthem the manager Valleta was the theatre. Untl the 1860s, the main venue for unveiled a marble bust of Queen Victoria.’113 Seven years later, this was the , and visitors describe evenings on 25 May 1873 the opera house was completely guted by a there right from the earliest years of the Britsh rule. In 1800 one fre. During rehearsals for a new producton La Vergine del Britsh ofcer thought the theatre was 'small and neat, though Castello by Sicilian composer Giuseppe Privitera, some of the now much out of repair'.108 This is hardly surprising, so soon stage scenery caught fre. The fames spread rapidly and while afer the disastrous period when the French were blockaded in everyone present managed to make it safely outside through the city. Indeed, a major refurbishment was undertaken soon the doors and windows, the roof and interior of the theatre aferwards. Whitmore redesigned the interior substantally in were destroyed. The ill-fated stage scenery that night was 1812, only 80 years afer the theatre was frst opened in 1732 painted by Maltese artst Giuseppe Calì. Three fre engines were by Portuguese Grand Master Antonio Manoel de Vilhena (1663- brought from Fort St Elmo, the Arsenal and the stores at the 1736). Further changes were introduced in 1844 and again in Marina to tackle the fames ‘but the water reservoirs in the area 1906. Whitmore was following the brief of Hildebrand Oakes were nearly empty.’114 The Illustrated London News reported who wanted to have the building restored, providing beter that ‘immense volumes of fame arose from the burning theatre facilites and seatng arrangements in a ‘modern and elegant’ and lighted up the town and country around. A terrible panic

312 life in nineteenth-century valletta

The Royal Opera House, built in a Neo- Classical style and designed by architect Edward Barry in the 1860s (Private collecton)

was excited by the fear of gunpowder explosions in the military and frequently ran into fnancial difcultes. This theatre was a magazines, of which there was really some danger, if the wind focal point of Valleta social life right untl it was bombed and had blown a litle more strongly or a litle more that way. destroyed in the second world war. When the original designs Thousands of people – men, women and children – some half- for the opera house were being drawn up in the 1860s, one point dressed, others laden with household treasures, crowded the of contenton was the front terrace of the theatre, overlooking Marsamusceto and other wharves, crying for boats to pass over Republic Street (Strada Reale). The Council of Government to Sliema and St Julian’s; while some ran of into the country.’115 in Malta did not like this terrace but Barry insisted upon it. A select commitee chaired by Adrian Dingli decided to rebuild Ironically, today the front terrace is the only intact part of the the theatre to its original plan, paid for by public funds. Nearly former opera house which has survived, in its contemporary four and a half years afer the fre, the Royal Opera House reincarnaton as an open-air theatre among the ruins. reopened on 11 October 1877. It was managed by impresarios,

313

notes & sources

10. Dominic Fenech, Birgu during the Britsh Period , in Birgu: A Maltese Maritme 32. Malcolm Borg, Britsh Colonial Architecture: Malta 1800-1900 (Malta: PEG, City (Malta: , 1993), p. 129. 2001), p. 74. 11. Salvino Busutl, Malta s Economy in the Nineteenth Century , in Journal of the 33. Ibid., p. 29. Also see Dominic Fenech (1993). Faculty of Arts, 3 (1965), p. 56. 34. Ibid., p. 116. 12. Ibid., p. 57. 35. Professor Pisani s Report on the Cholera Epidemic at Malta in 1887 , in Britsh 13. Pirota (1996), p. 62. Medical Journal, 1 (1889), pp. 1147-48. 14. NLM, Treas. B. 210, Libro Ordine 1800-1812, f. 84. Cited in Victor F. Denaro, Stll 36. Albert V. Laferla, Britsh Malta, vol. 1 (Malta: Aquilina, 1976), p. 231. More Houses in Valleta , in Melita Historica, 3.3 (1962), p. 52. 37. Adrianus Koster, Prelates and Politcians in Malta: Changing Power-Balances 15. Denaro (1962), p. 52. between Church and State in a Mediterranean Island Fortress (Netherlands: Van 16. Thomas MacGill, A Hand Book or Guide for Strangers Visitng Malta (Malta: Gorcum, 1984), p. 57. Tonna, 1939), p. 65. 38. Raymond Mangion (ed.), Minutes of the Council of : 29 17. Carmel Vassallo, The Malta Chamber of Commerce 1848-1979: An Outline December 1835 to 13 August 1849 (Malta: University of Malta Press, 2009), p. xix. History of Maltese Trade (Malta: Malta Chamber of Commerce, 1998), p. 31. 39. Arthur Bonnici, Thirty Years to Build a Protestant Church in Melita Historica 18. Petra Caruana Dingli, A Chief Secretary in Malta: Henry Lushington and the 6.2 (1973), p. 183. Italian Queston , in Journal of Anglo-Italian Studies, 13-14 (2014), pp. 102-106. 40. NAM, Dispatches to Secretary of State, no. 73 (1825-1828), 26 September 1825. 19. Robert Micallef, A History of the Malta Chamber , in Giovanni Bonello (ed.), Refer to Enclosure 17 March 1825. La Borsa: The People the Building the History (Malta: Malta Chamber of Commerce 41. Martna Caruana and Ann Gingell Litlejohn, St Paul s Anglican Cathedral in Enterprise and Industry, 2013), p. 2. Valleta , in Treasures of Malta, 4.2 (1998), p. 67. 20. Vassallo (1998), p. 163. 42. Bonnici (1973), p. 184. 21. See Theresa Vella, Charles Frederick de Brocktorf: Watercolours of Malta at the 43. Ibid., pp. 184-85. Natonal Library, Valleta, vol. 2 (Malta: Natonal Library of Malta, 2008), p. 42. 44. NAM, Leters from Chief Secretary, vol. 10 (June 1828 - May 1830). 22. Balì Fra Francisco Zarzana of the Langue of Castlle and León was grand 45. Governor s Report for 1830, Ponsonby to Goderich, 2 March 1831, no. 13, CO chancellor of the Order of St John. Fra Anacleto Zarzana y Serna was Balì de Nueve 158/68. Cited in Hilda Lee, Britsh Policy towards the Religion, Ancient and Villas of the same langue in the 1790s (and formerly governor of Fort St Angelo in Customs in Malta 1824-1851 , in Melita Historica, 3.1 (1963), p. 2. the 1780s) and owned 24 St Christopher Street, a large eighteenth-century house 46. The Casa alla Giornata was repeatedly and erroneously referred during the which today houses the notarial archives. He returned to Spain once the Order lost 19th century as the Auberge dAngleterre, as it was once the residence of a Prior of Malta to France. The brothers Fra Giovanni Zarzana and Fra Pietro Paolo Zarzana, England during the tme of the knights. See Victor F. Denaro, Houses in Kingsway also held the rank of balì in the 1780s. See Emanuel Butgieg and Franco Davies, and Old Bakery Street Valleta , in Melita Historica, 2.4 (1959), p. 201. It was Remembering 1565: The Role of Memory in the Urban Fabric of the Island Order demolished in 1860 to make way for the building of the new opera house. NAM, State of the Hospitallers , in Besieged: Malta 1565, ed. by Maroma Camilleri (Malta: Public Works (PW), 5 March 186, refers to tenders for the constructon of the opera Malta Libraries-Heritage Malta, 2015), p. 150; De Meyer, Révoluton de Malte en house on the site of the Auberge dAngleterre in Strada Reale . Bonnici (1973) 1798: Gouvernement, principes, loix, status de l’Ordre: Réponse au manifeste du suggests that McKenzie s plan may have referred to the house of the English knight prieuré de Russie. Par m. le chev. De M.’ (1799), p. 121; Dane Munro, Memento Sir James Shelley, later Prior of England, who bequeathed the house to the assembly Mori: A Companion to the Most Beautful Floor in the World (Malta: MJ Publicatons, of the conventual chaplains with the express reservaton that, should the knights of 2005), pp. 142-43. England return to the bosom of the Mother Church and if the English langue were 23. NLM, AOM 6523, f. 41; NLM, Treas. B 90, f. 57, Stat Beni Urbani, vol. 11. Cited re-established, the premises were to serve as an auberge for the English knights. in Carmel Testa, The French in Malta 1798-1800 (Malta: Midsea Books, 1997), p. See Denaro (1962), p. 54. 187, fn. 7. 47. Bonnici (1973), p. 187. 24. Theresa Vella, Before the Borsa on Strada Reale , in Bonello (ed.) (2013), p. 54. 48. Ibid., p. 190. 25. David Felice, Modernity and Exchange , in Bonello (ed.) (2013), p. 46. 49. For more on Scamp in Malta see Conrad Thake, William Scamp 1801-1872: An 26. Vassallo (1998), p. 166. Architect of the Britsh Admiralty in Malta (Malta: Midsea Books, 2010). 27. Vicki Ann Cremona, The Borsa: A Social Meetng Place with Cultural 50. John Wolfe, Britsh and European , in The History of Aspiratons , in Bonello (ed.) (2013), pp. 23-30. Anglicanism Vol. III: Partsan Anglicanism and Its Global Expansion 1829- c.1914, ed. 28. Petra Caruana Dingli, Standard Bearers of Free Enterprise: Memories of the by Rowan Strong, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017), p. 38. Malta Chamber since the 1970s , in Bonello (ed.) (2013), p. 182. 51. Bishop Tomlinson was buried at Ta Braxia cemetery in Pietà. 29. Cited in Henry Frendo, Party Politcs in a Fortress : The Maltese 52. Henry J.C. Knight, The Diocese of Gibraltar: A Sketch of Its History, Work and Experience (Malta: Midsea Books, 1979), p. 2. Tasks (London: Society for Promotng Christan Knowledge, 1917), p. 54. 30. Pirota (1996), pp. 429-30. 53. Ibid., p. xi. 31. NAM, ANM Leters Jan 1832 - July 1833, Leter to Hector Greig, 4 February 54. See of Gibraltar , Morning Post, 26 July 1842, p. 6. 1833, p. 340. 55. N.D. Denny, Britsh Temperance Reformers and the Island of Malta 1815-1914 ,

401 encounters with valletta - a baroque city through the ages

in Melita Historica, 9.4 (1987), p. 329. 91. Malta , Inverness Courier, Foreign Intelligence, 3 February 1847, p. 6. 56. NAM, PW 577, Appendix A, 11428/ Military, 1876. 92. Malta , Daily News, 5 November 1847, p. 2. 57. Mathew Gauci, New Light on Webster Paulson and his Architectural 93. Nassau William Senior, Conversatons and Journals in Malta and Egypt, vol. 2 Idiosyncracies , in Melita Historica: Proceedings of History Week (Malta: Malta (Egypt: Low Marston Searle, 1882), p. 231. Historical Society, 2009), pp. 144-45. 94. Borg (2001), pp. 18-19. 58. Proposed New Presbyterian Church in Malta , Malta Times, 24 April 1855. 95. Freller, Malta and the Grand Tour (Malta: Midsea Books, 2009), pp. 649-57. 59. Vassallo (1998), p. 164. 96. The Maltese Court , Illustrated London News, 9 October 1886, pp. 389-90. 60. Scotch Free Presbyterian Church , Malta Times, 29 December 1857. 97. Daily Malta Chronicle, 27 June 1901. 61. Papers Relatng to the Roman Catholic Religion in Malta, Ordered by the House 98. Joseph Cassar Pullicino, Some 19th-Century Hotels in Malta , in Melita of Commons to be Printed 24 May 1813. Cited in Laferla (1976), p. 60. Historica, 8.2 (1981), pp. 109-24. 62. Joseph Bezzina, Church and State in an Island Colony , in The Britsh Colonial 99. Ibid. Experience 1800-1964: The Impact on Maltese Society, ed. by Victor Mallia Milanes 100. Advert in Malta Mail, 9 November 1855. (Malta: Mireva, 1988), p. 53. 101. Cassar Pullicino (1981). 63. Laferla (1976), p. 98. 102. Joseph Borg, The Public Gardens and Groves of the Maltese Islands (Malta: 64. NAM, MSA 24, Oakes to Bishop of Malta 13/4/1812. Cited in Patrick Staines, Colour Image, 2005), p. 125. Essays on Governing Malta 1800-181 (Malta: PEG, 2008), pp. 288-89. 103. Borg (2001), p. 35. 65. George Cockburn, A Voyage to Cadiz and Gibraltar up the Mediterranean to 104. Ibid., p. 36. Sicily and Malta in 1810 & 11 Including a descripton of Sicily and the Lipari Islands 105. Ibid., p. 22. and an Excursion in Portugal, vol. 2 (London: Harding, 1815), p. 112. 106. Thomas MacGill, A Handbook or Guide for Strangers Visitng Malta (Malta: 66. Bezzina (1998), Church and State , p. 53 Tonna, 1839), p. 47. 67. Mangion (2009), p. lxiii. Also see, Il Carnival ta Malta tat-Tnein u Ghoxrin ta 107. The Prince of Wales at Malta , Monmouthshire Merlin, Supplement, 13 April Frar Elf Tmien Mia u Sita u Erbghin , in Anglu Malta, 1846. 1876, p. 1. 68. Laferla (1976), p. 162. 108. Freller (2009), p. 365. 69. Gazzeta di Malta, 26 May 1899. 109. Paul Xuereb, The Manoel Theatre: A Short History (Malta: PEG, 1994), p. 41. 70. Freemasonry in Malta , Pall Mall Gazete, 3 July 1899, p. 8. 110. Freller (2009), pp. 366-67. 71. For more on the language queston , see Geofrey Hull, The Malta Language 111. Joseph Bonnici and Michael Cassar, The Royal Opera House Malta (Malta: Queston: A Case Study in Cultural Imperialism (Malta: Said Internatonal, 1993). 1990), p. 11. 72. Pirota (1996), p. 422. 112. Pirota (1996), p. 232. 73. Malta Times and United Services Gazete, 3 December 1863. 113. Bonnici & Cassar (1990), p. 33. 74. Caruana Dingli (2014), pp. 102-106. 114. Ibid., p. 39. 75. Carmel Testa, The French in Malta 1798-1800 (Malta: Midsea Books, 1997), p. 393. 115. The Malta Theatre, Illustrated London News, 14 June 1873, p. 562. 76. Testa (1997), pp. 143-45, pp. 334-35 & 339. 77. Joseph J. Camilleri, Paolo Pullicino s Educatonal Legacy , in Yesterday’s Schools: Readings in Maltese Educatonal History, ed. by Ronald Sultana (Malta: PEG, 2001), pp. 101-22. 78. Joseph J. Camilleri, Early Government Schools in Malta , in Melita Historica, 5.3 (1970), p. 260. 79. Frendo (1979), p. 15. 80. Pirota (1996), pp. 265-67. 81. Frendo (1979), p. 22. 82. Ibid., p. 52. 83. Pirota (1996), p. 348. 84. Frendo (1979), pp. 119-20. 85. Cited in Robert Holland, Blue-Water Empire: The Britsh in the Mediterranean since 1800 (London: Allen Lane, 2012), p. 84. 86. Malta Directory, 1888. 87. From the Malta Gazete , Morning Post, 19 December 1827, p. 4. 88. The Money Market , Morning Post, 28 July 1831, p. 3. 89. Queen Adelaide , Morning Post, 5 February 1839, p. 3. 90. St Andrew s Day in the Island of Malta , Glasgow Herald, 8 January 1844, p. 4.

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