Adopted by Bellview Baptist Church Intercessory Prayer Group, Paducah, Kentucky USA on 1st May 2004.
Valletta is also Malta's capital city: a living, working city, the administrative and commercial heart of the Islands. Nowhere in Malta is the life of the Islands reflected more than here. The city is busy by day, yet retains a timeless atmosphere. The grid of narrow streets house some of Europe's finest art works, churches and palaces.
Valletta hosts a vast cultural programme. Street events are staged against the city's magnificent baroque architecture and floodlit bastions. There is theatre and music and all manner of things to see and join in, from avant garde art to traditional church festas. The city is a delight to shop in: narrow side streets are full of tiny shops selling antiques, maps, books, prints and jewellery.
Walking around Valletta, you'll come across an intriguing historical site around every corner: votive statues, niches, fountains and coats of arms high up on parapets. And when you need to stop and take it all in, the city yields up squares, courtyards, gardens and any number of cafés, right on cue.
There can be few Mediterranean cities as rich in architectural, historical and cultural heritage as this unique, baroque, walled city.
St. John's Co-Cathedral
St John's Cathedral in Valletta is a highlight of the Maltese Islands. Described as the first complete example of the high baroque anywhere, it epitomises the role - spiritual and military - of its patrons.
The austere façade is reminiscent of the fortifications of Valletta, the fortress city in which it stands; while the exuberant and lavish baroque interior shows the Knights' deep appreciation and patronage of culture and the arts.
A Brief History of Valletta
Valletta is named after its founder, the Grand Master of the Order of St John, Jean Parisot de la Valette, and he built it as a city fortress to withstand the attacks of the Grand Turk Suleiman the Magnificent against Malta.
The magnificent fortress city stands on the arid rock of Mount Sceberras peninsula, which rises steeply from two deep harbours, Marsamxett and Grand Harbour. Started in 1566, Valletta was completed, with its impressive bastions, forts and cathedral, in the astonishingly short time of 15 years.
Valletta may not strike you as a modern city, but it was the first ever planned city to be built based on a grid pattern of streets. The design provided for fresh water to be piped in, and for sanitation; both advanced concepts for the time. The grid of streets allowed for fresh air from the two harbours to circulate easily in the narrow streets - a kind of city-scale air-conditioning, and also served as a defensive measure as it was impossible for a large group of attackers to hide.
By the turn of the 16th century, Valletta was a sizeable city. People from across the Islands came to live within the safety of its bastions, and Mdina, the old medieval capital, all but lost its role and became a backwater.
World War II brought havoc to Malta because of its strategic position in the Mediterranean. It was then a British colony, but the Axis tried very hard to capture it, giving it more bombs per square mile than any other theatre of operations. Valletta was badly destroyed by bombardment, but the city managed to withstand the war with many of its treasures, such as the Knights' masterpiece, St John's Cathedral, intact.
Today Valletta has a smaller population than before the war, and has very little night-life, but it is a still a bustling place as the Islands' main business centre and the seat of government
Valletta Weblinks
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Adopted by Cornishville Baptist Church, Kentucky, USA.
OK, enough semantics, let's look at the geography.
Xaghra is built on a hill in the central north-east of the island of Gozo. It lies about two miles away from Rabat, the capital of the island, and is described as "the abode of giants and of gods".
The old Latin motto of the village is "Librat et Evolvat", that is "Poised and soaring" - in Maltese, "Tisseqqer u tittajjar". This motto suits the village perfectly. It compares the village of Xaghra to a migratory bird suspended in mid-air between the blue sky above Gozo and the Mediterranean Sea. The village is indeed poised and soaring like a bird over the whole island of Gozo.
Pre-History
Xaghra can boast of a Guinness Book of Records entry: "The oldest free standing structures in the world are now believed to be the megalithic temples at Ggantija in Xaghra from about 3600 B.C."
Besides the famous Ggantija temples (believed to be erected by giants because the stones are so massive), there are 3 other prehistoric sites in and near Xaghra; the Gozo stone circle (an underground cemetary of the Temple Builders, now covered up), Santa Verna (a group of 3 megaliths) and "Samson's Stone", a huge slab of coralline limestone which is probably the capstone of a partly collapsed dolmen.
Popular belief attests that even the gods once made their abode in Xaghra. Calypso Cave, overlooking the sandy bay of Ir-Ramla, is the legendary quarters of the nymph Calypso, and it is said that this is the site mentioned in Homer's "The Odyssey". Fact or fiction, one thing is certain: the beautiful views of fertile Ramla valley that stretches below the cave and flows onto sandy Ramla, the most unspoiled bay of the archipelago, certainly bewitch thousands to this day!
The Village and Parish
The first recorded inhabitants of Xaghra are the temple builders of the fifth and fourth millennium before the present era.
Late in the sixteenth century, the hilltop was inhabited permanently once more, and since the plague that raged in the village in 1814 leaving 104 dead, the population has increased steadily and at times the village was the largest of Gozo; at the moment it is the second largest.
The Parish Church of Xaghra, dedicated to the Nativity, is one of the most richly embellished on the island and is popularly known as 'il-Vitorja' (the Victory). The church, like many others, grew over and around an older building first recorded late in the seventeenth century. The whole church is covered with marble throughout but its main attraction is a beautiful statue of young Mary, il-Bambina, brought from Marseilles, France in 1878.
There are also 2 chapels in Xaghra.
Places of Interest in Xaghra
There are two splendid stalactites and stalagmites caves not far from the village square. The first is 'Ninu's cave' in 'Triq Jannar' (January Street), and the second is 'Xerri's Cave' in 'Triq l-Ghar ta' Xerri' (The Street of Xerri's Cave). They are both situated within private houses, but they are accessible to the public.
Another interesting place, also close to the village square and visible far and wide, is 'il-Mithna ta' Kola', the windmill of the miller Kola. It is situated at one end of Triq il-Bambina and was raised in 1725. Designed on the same plan of contemporary mills, it consists of a quadrangular building erected round and incorporating a circular tower about fifteen metres high and three metres in diameter. Though not used any longer, it is still in working order. During the grim years of the second World War when the Axis completely blockaded Malta, this windmill was put into good use saving many from starvation. Its last miller was a certain Guzepp Grech, who died at the age of eighty-seven in 1987. After his demise, the place was restored and on 6 September 1992, and a folklore museum was set up in the miller's rooms.
Xaghra Weblinks
Please note that these links are provided for informational purposes, and their inclusion here does not mean that we endorse their content. Problems? Contact the webservant.
Adopted by First Baptist Church of Winter Park, Florida, USA.
Adopted by the deacons of Emmaus Baptist Church, Oklahoma, USA.
The population of Zurrieq is about 9,000. In the past, villagers depended mainly on fishing and agriculture. There are two sports clubs, two band clubs and two political clubs in Zurrieq. There are also some youth and religious centres and a large number of pubs.
Local clubs organise a number of activities including parties, discos, sport activities, charity, religious meetings and other activities covering most of the age groups of the population of Zurrieq.
The 'Madonna of Carmel' and the 'St. Chaterine' band clubs organise a feast in mid-July and the beginning of September respectively. The feast activities usually take a week and they consist of band marches in the streets of Zurrieq and fire work shows.
Zurrieq got its name from the deep blue colour of the sea near the village (the word 'zeraq' or 'zernaq', means blue). The major attractions in Zurrieq are the Blue Grotto and Wied iz-Zurrieq, located in the Western part of the village. Wied iz-Zurrieq is an outlet to the sea, where you can have a swim in the blue sea, or else visit the Blue Grotto and the surrounding coastline by a trip on the "dghajsa", a traditional Maltese fishing boat.
The Blue Grotto is famous for the clarity of the water and the brilliant colours around the rocks in the caves. Legend has it that there is a tunnel, which connects the Grotto with the Church of St. Catherine.
Two significant pre-historic sites can be found in the vicinity of Zurrieq. These are the temples of Hagar Qim and Mnajdra, located between Zurrieq and Qrendi.
These temples are an example of the building skills of the people who lived in Malta over four thousand years ago. The temples were built almost 1,000 years before the pyramids of Giza, Egypt, and are considered to be the oldest temples of their kind in existence. Located close to the cliffs of the southern coast of Malta, away from any built up areas, these temples offer a breath-taking view of the Mediterranean and the surrounding countryside.
Zurrieq has many churches and chapels, as well as five windmills. The most popular is the 'Mithna tax-Xarolla' which was damaged a few years ago by strong winds. It is currently being repaired and will soon be open to the public. Other important architectural sites include a tower built in Phoenician times and the Armeria Palace, built by the Knights at the end of the 17th century.
Zurrieq Weblinks
Please note that these links are provided for informational purposes, and their inclusion here does not mean that we endorse their content. Problems? Contact the webservant.
The Fortress City, Citta' Umilissima, "a city built by gentlemen for gentlemen". Valletta has many titles, all recalling its rich historical past. It is the "modern" city built by the Knights of St John; a masterpiece of the baroque; a European Art City; and a World Heritage City. But these are just some of its faces and fortunes.
The word Xaghra deserves some clarification before we proceed... it contains two very Maltese letters, x and gh. The x sounds like sh as in 'shoe', while the gh is actually silent, but has the effect of 'elongating' the letter 'a' which is before it. The sum of all of this is that the word Xaghra should be pronounced "Shaaaara" - not "Shara", it's a long, low 'a', like when you see something pretty and go "aaaah!".
Zurrieq is located in the south-west of the island of Malta. It is surrounded by country side and shares its borders with Hal-Safi, Hal-Far, Qrendi and Mqabba. Zurrieq was mentioned in the list of 'Milizja' as early as 1419 and it became a parish in 1436.