Oh no! Not another history lesson!
Having spent not more than an hour at the Malta Maritime Museum, Max and I had still more time at hand and I told him “Let’s walk up to the old city of Birgu” and Max never says no. So we walked up the street to enter Birgu from the land side. This is a free merge of two shots to show the entrance gate and part of the walls of the city.
When the Knights of St John were defeated by a vast force of the Ottoman Empire when in Rhodes in 1522 A.D, they had to evacuate the island and spent years roaming around Europe till in 1530 Emperor Charles V granted the Maltese Islands to the Knights of St John, also in an effort to protect Rome from Islamic invasion. While Mdina was considered the capital, and only, city of Malta, the Order settled at Birgu within the now Grand Harbour area and started fortifying the Birgu where they decided to stay. The attack from the Ottomans came in 1565 with a mighty fleet and thousands of well trained soldiers who heavily outnumbered the defenders (which now included the Maltese residents). This was the first Great Siege of Malta, the enemy were repelled and had to leave the island defeated. As a consequence Birgu was renamed Citta’ Vittoriosa, the Victorious city. Many renovations on the fortifications were made in the following years and are still ongoing.
Thank you very much for your looks, comments fav, on yesterday's picture.
Ian