Another Mdina shot, this time Bastion Square. Mdina has been dubbed The Silent city as no vehicles, except those belonging to the about 300 residents are allowed within its walls.
Situated on one of the Island’s highest points and at maximum distance from the sea, Mdina was inhabited and possibly first fortified by the Phoenicians around 700 BC. They called it Maleth. Following the fall of the Roman Empire ( Malta was occupied by the Romans/ Carthaginians) Malta fell under Arab rule in 999 AD. The Arabs named it Medina (Arabic for city). At the time of the Arab conquest, Mdina was much bigger than today but in order to be able to defend it better, the Arabs diminished it in size and surrounded it with their own fortifications. In 1091, Malta fell to the Normans under Count Roger who surrounded the city with thick defensive fortifications and widened the moat. Mdina lost a lot of its importance during the rule of the Knights of St John (now better known as Knights of Malta) who transferred authority to Birgu and later to Valletta to be nearer to the sea. A strong earthquake in 1693 caused a lot of damage to the buildings in Mdina leading to the introduction of Baroque design within the cityscape.
