Valletta Virtual Tour – Lower Barakka & Fort St Elmo
Hello everybody and welcome to another virtual tour here. This is Dr. Lilian Thesp Gonzalez taking us around the beautiful city of Malta today where we are going to be exploring the area of the lower Baraka and essentially the bottom half of the city. And this is actually where we are right now in the lower Baraka. This is the twin garden with the upper baraka which are actually the old barracks. By the way, you may have seen the upper baraka in one of our other tours here in uh YouTube or perhaps even in one of our Zoom sessions, but it’s literally the area that I’m pointing at right now uh with the uh camera. Well, this area is um incredibly breathtaking. Definitely one of the biggest highlights of uh Valeta in Malta. And I would like to give you a little bit of context about what you’re going to be seeing in this area and of course the history of the city through and through. Well, you see the um area that we are looking into right now also goes to what we call the area of the uh Grand Harbor of Malta. It is um incredibly big area of sea. It’s actually one of the reasons why Valeta specifically and Malta overall have been crucial and very strategic locations in Europe throughout you know hundreds and hundreds of uh years and currently is one of the reasons why many cruise ships come over to this area as well as have pleasure ships etc etc. Right in front of us as I am turning the camera now towards the left we have the area of three cities but this is the area that contains the districts of uh Bormla Sanga and of course Beiru where one of the forts is and we will be talking more about that in a few moments. Well the area of u Malta and Valeta across to the area of three cities has been inhabited for hundreds of years. There has been occupation in here at least since the Neolithic. We reckon and most likely before Malta is actually a country full of archaeological sites that prove that there was you know uh ancient people living here because of the uh wonderful ability that um the country had to well create good uh arable land but also uh for many years it was an area that uh attracted a lot of people because of the sea fishing and uh due to uh astrological ical um effects so to speak. Well, we are now here walking through the area of Lower Baraka in the gardens and uh we are just approaching the monument to Sir Alexander B is this building that you see here in neocclassical style dating from 1810 and Alexander B was actually the first civil commissioner of Malta. What does this mean? Well, he was a British admiral sent over to Malta in 1798 to help the Maltese against the French blockade. The French had actually come here during the time of Napoleon to essentially mess around with uh you know British uh I guess assets in the Mediterranean, so to speak. And well, that’s that’s essentially what happens. he uh took uh over um and actually helped the repel the French invasion and he will actually keep the position of of civil commissioner of Malta until his death in 1809. Uh the temple itself was by the way based on the temple of Hephesus in the hour of Athens which perhaps some of you have seen with us as well in in our tour of Athens before. And as we walk here towards the back of the memorial gardens, you’re going to notice a variety of other monuments. We have here, by the way, this statue, modern statue dedicated to um Anias, the u classical hero, of course. Um but when we’re talking of modern statue, this is literally the tail end of the 20th century. Now, why Anas and why any of the other monuments that we have in here? Well, you see, the majority of of the area of uh lower Baraka is uh comprised of a lot of military and heroic monuments. There’s a lot of commemorative plaques um in the strip of land that we’re going to walk through right now. mostly like I said commemorating military events uh from the past from the Hungarian revolution of 1956 to the Prague Spring Garib Baldi and of course its 50th anniversary of uh the European Union. It’s important for Malta to have these memorials in here uh for a couple of reasons. First things first, Malta, as I’ve probably mentioned to you guys before, is a country that will suffer a lot because of the war. And we will talk about that a bit better in a few moments when we get to the siege bell war memorial. But after leaving um the protection of British rule um in the 70s, um Malta will actually really strive to be a peaceful place. um in fact often became um and has become a mediation center for um many international conflicts on behalf of not just the European Union but different uh you know institutions all across the globe. which is why the commemoration of those military events as well as uh uprisings and upheavalss is important for them because as a nation that has been pretty much occupied 24/7 up until literally the last 100 years I think the Maltese kind of reached this conclusion that well you know history is not always that pleasant military occupation or occupation of any kind can actually lead to a lot of uh political and and social resent And it’s important to well commemorate these things and make people aware of what those not necessarily dark but more complicated moments in history are like. Well, we’re just going to go down now, like I was saying, to the Siege Bell War Memorial, which is just off the street here in the lower Baraka. And well, while we’re walking there, you’re experiencing what it’s like to actually just uh walk through an ordinary street in Malta. You’re going to see that the vast majority of buildings um are very similar. They are all built of this sandyike stone which is the local limestone of uh Malta. Overall you see the the Maltis archipelago because remember it’s actually three islands um Valeta Goof and Kosimo. It’s essentially one big chunk of rock. That’s the reason why the fortified area of the Baraka that we’ve been looking at just a moment ago is so impressive. um they literally carved out the fortress from the stone that they already had there. So all the majority of the buildings in the area are done with the same local material which is very resilient and actually pretty good for the Maltese weather in any case. So that’s that’s how the majority of of the island regardless of where you are whether it’s Valeta or somewhere else looks like. Um the maltis like many Mediterranean societies in modern times tend to live in flats at least in what is the the cities um and you see the you know balconies uh which are a very typical uh view particularly in Valeta in this day and age which by the way were the gossip corner. I I found that hilarious when I went to one of the local museums and they explained that well they were apart from a small terrace to of course enjoy the the outside weather they they are actually the the gossip corner or at least they were multi society has become perhaps a lot more um subtle in that regards than it was perhaps in the 16th 17th and 18th century and part of that is actually the British culture that came through and set a standard on what the Maltes uh perhaps would have been before. You see, Malta is a very peculiar country where you can very clearly see the Spanish influence because Malta was actually owned by Spain for the best part of 300 nearly years. You can see the Italian influence of course you know Malta is less than 60 milesi away from Sicily and then of course the British influence because of the uh British protectorate and well here we are now in the siege bell war memorial located in the uh lower part of uh St. Christopher’s Bastion just in front of the um lower baraka and you can see in here a lot more of those plaques commemorating the uh war efforts. Originally it was actually commissioned for the 50th anniversary of the um award that Malta receives um because of its heroic effort during the second world war. uh King George V 6, if I remember correctly, um actually gave them the the George Cross as a honor to the heroic effort that the Maltes actually performed during this time period. Um the memorial itself was actually unveiled by Queen Elizabeth II in 1992. I was going to say the queen. I’m still not used to understanding that unfortunately Elizabeth died and and we are now under the reign of Charles. But anyways indeed Elizabeth II in 1992 and it’s mostly in reference to the events that take place during the second siege of Malta. Between June 1940 and October 1942, 6,000 tons of bombs fell in this country. And when I say fell, obviously I mean it was bombarded. Uh it was a total of 3,000 air raids and it’s actually a quite horrible tragedy guys. The situation started like this. Um the air rates actually started by the Italians because of course like I said Malti is so close to Italy but frankly they were not doing a very good job. So it eventually became an ItalGerman offensive um which will leave Malta in a sheer state of devastation and misery. Um you know we’re talking of um the fact that since this is essentially the only Allied fortress that existed between Gibralar and Alexandria um and it was you know important access to the Suez Canal. The British needed Malta desperately for the war effort in the north of Africa. And of course, uh, the Axis knew this. So, um, it’s going to be absolutely relentless. Everybody thought that Malta would fall. You know, we’re talking of a very small country. Consider this is still one of the smallest countries in Europe with a population that in the whole of Malta is barely half a million people. You know, London alone has twice the amount of people, well, more than twice actually, eight times, nearly 10 times the amount of people that live in Malta. Uh, which is insane. So, everybody thought that the Maltes will fold. Um, they were essentially left to their own devices. um due to the supposed cost of war, both Britain and the United States were supposed to be sending help to Malta. But under the premise that their ships kept on getting um essentially bombed out, um they decided that it was just simply too costly to keep on doing that and they left the Maltese to starve. That’s the honest truth. Malta didn’t just suffer from the actual bombings. It mostly suffer from the fact that it is an island and depends to some extent of connections with uh mainland Europe and at this moment in time the maltes run out of food. We are talking about the fact that the air raids that took place could last up to 18 hours. Imagine being in some of these fortresses, which to be fair, Malt Malta has many of these fortresses that were used actually as uh as air raid shelters all across the area of Valeta over to the area of three cities, particularly in Biru. You know, they did have actually these um uh facilities, but not to endure what it was supposed to. I’ve actually visited those areas. I’ve taken the the tours with the local guides and the conditions were dire. We’re talking of the fact that these air rates were so long, people literally came here into the shelters not knowing when they were going to come out with little more than a bucket and whatever food they could get with them. And why a bucket? Well, this was literally the question that completely uh threw me off. Um because well, where are you going to do your necessities where you are bunkered down in a essentially dark tunnel with another 700 people plus? Yeah, it’s it was literally the smallest amount of dignity these people were allowed for two years of their life, day in and day out. So I hope you understand how important it was for the Maltese to receive that recognition while they were still part of you know the British Empire or the British colonies because they never surrendered despite what they went through despite that the majority of people that die in Malta from you know the war effects died of a starvation despite that the majority of the country was completely ruined. Valeta. And here you can see, by the way, the the rock that I was talking about earlier and how solid it is. But consider that Valeta was destroyed in about 70% of its own totality. A lot of the buildings and monuments that you’re seeing in here today with me had to be reconstructed afterwards with the help of European Union money because by the way the British and the American once again seemed to forget to fill in the paperwork properly during the Marshall plan and kind of left Malta off the the reparations that they were due which just kind of adds more damage to the injury to be honest. Nonetheless, a lot of the work has been done very thoroughly to bring back the city and the country from its ashes. And um I guess a lot of that has to do with that resilience that Malta proved not just then but many many a times before. This is a country of people who have fended off their shores from like I said constant and constant invaders from Roman occupation to previous Carthaginian occupation to later on Muslim occupation, Norman occupation, Spanish occupation, well Aragon occupation and then Spanish occupation, the knights of the order that become, so to speak, perhaps the first overlords to actually treat Malta as a as a country of its own right. and yet still overlords nonetheless over to the French and over to the British. That is the the gift of Malta, the beautiful spirit of resilience that awarded them that George cross. Well, I’m getting a bit emotional, but you know, it’s very important to me to actually represent what the Maltese did because I don’t think a lot of people actually give them enough credit, and I don’t think that’s fair. Now, in any case, we’re actually literally um on the uh outskirts of a wonderful um site here in in Valeta, which is Fort St. Elmo. Uh Fort Santelmo is literally located on the edge of the Eskeveras Peninsula, which by the way is how this part of Valeta is um is called. uh which had a super important role both in the great siege of Malta in the um 16th century and later on of course uh during the Second World War. It is also home now to the National War Museum which if you are planning on visiting Malta is 100% a stop that you must make. It is actually a state-of-the-art museum that utilizes the fort itself or what remains of the fort that is still useful. Um it has the uh different areas sectioned in rooms that are very accessible by the way. So in case that you are somebody traveling with mobility problems or even perhaps with neurody divergences or other kind of uh physical or uh emotional uh psychological disabilities is actually very user friendly in that regards which really fascinated me. I I was super impressed by the way that uh this is actually so accessible. Although it’s a long and big place. It’s an area where you’re going to spend the best part of 2 hours to 3 hours of your life. So, uh you know, come prepared essentially. And the rooms have different displays explaining not just the great siege of Malta of the 16th century, which I’ll talk about more in a few moments, or the war, but the constant input that Malta has had as a country, as a military nation. It is actually really well done. Besides the actual archaeological artifacts, they have an incredible amount of interactive stuff and the information is displayed in such a way that is very easy to engage by the public. Um, so 100% recommend. Now we are literally now um through the uh sort of top half of Fort St. Elmo. This area like well the area that I’m walking over now. Not so user friendly. Um but uh I really really wanted to get uh closer to the to the fence so you guys could appreciate since we are not allowed to record inside of the museum how incredible really Fort Santelmo is. As you can see, they were doing some repairs at this moment in time. Malta, when I was recording this, which was actually in 2023, if I remember correctly, yes, November 2023, was actually doing some upgrades to not just this museum, but many of the other museums that they have. Well, this uh incredible structure in front of you uh already existed to an extent in 1488. Um like I told you the Aragon had actually been um one of the overlords of Malta. They came here as a result of a little conflict known as the Sicilian vespers. And um what happened during the Sicilian vespers was essentially that Sicily at that moment in time um was under the uh control of Charles the first of Anju. They didn’t necessarily like how their overlords were treating them and well Malta kind of uh follows suit. So the Sicilians actually ask for help by the Aragon which were one of the biggest superpowers in terms of maritime power in the Mediterranean at that moment in time. So Peter the third of Aragon gets involved. the Aragon will destroy the um Anjavin troops, their galleys and that will allow Aragon to establish naval superiority in the Mediterranean and as such both uh the area of Sicily, the bottom half of Italy and Malta will be incorporated into Aragon and later on into Spain. So as a result they had invested of course money in infrastructure because again I must insist Malta is an incredibly strategic location for that crossing both from the area of Gibralar all the way to essentially Turkey and of course from what is the south of um France and Italy down to the north of Africa. So the original um fort that was in here was essentially reinforced by the time the knights of the order of San John arrived to Malta. You may known the knights of the order uh instead as the knights hospitalers. Essentially they came to Malta because they had been kicked out of roads uh quite rudely by the Ottoman Empire. And essentially the king of Spain, which at this moment in time was Charles I, needed help to essentially keep patrols on the Mediterranean to keep the advance of the Ottoman Empire at bay. So they reached this kind of agreement in which Charles offers the dependencies in Malta to the Knights of the Order to oversee as long as they help him protect uh the Mediterranean. And well through here you can see by the way um through the back of uh Fort Santelmo into areas where even if you go through with the um museum pass you will not be able to access because there are some parts of the fort that are completely turned to shreds. By the way um even even with all the money they’ve spent in you know making it good. The destruction I must insist was very very severe. Well, since the knights of the order coming here, um they actually um start reinforcing what the Arabanese had already left behind. But you see the Ottomans had raided the area. Towers were destroyed and well as a result in the 1550s the Knights of the Order decide that the original um establishment that the Araines had left in here was not suitable for the changes that were happening in warfare, particularly in naval warfare. and they decide to create the star-shaped fortress that you’re now going to start to be able to see as we get through um this little walk in the coast. So, I’ve shown you Fort St. Elmo literally um from the you know the actual I guess um edge of the fort itself. As we start walking here in this uh maritime walk towards the left, you will be able to see the outline of the fort and that bastion which gives that characteristic uh star shape um which became really important during the period of the Renaissance. Essentially um the main difference is that in a star-shaped type of bastion you have better cover against cannon fire which you know is kind of important. So that’s uh that’s why. So, well, that’s how it goes. And some of the most intense fighting later on will take place here during the great siege of of Malta. The siege will take 28 days, which was an insane amount of time. And although Fort St. Elmo fell, it will actually be a huge victory for the Maltese because Fort St. Elmo took such a big blow that it essentially allowed the rest of the forces to regroup and you know be able to to protect themselves. But like I said, it’s been extensively repaired, rebuilt, and eventually incorporated into what are actually the city walls of Valeta, including the Baraka, where we’ve been uh once Jean de Vallet, Grandmaster of the Order, gives the um green light to build Valeta itself because the city of Valeta, I must remind you, as an actual city did not exist until the 16th century. And after that victory to with the Ottoman uh empire, well, there will be modifications done um during British rule. And from here, from this view, you can see the star shape a bit better, of course. And well, like I said, the repair that has been done all throughout the 14 recent years really has transformed it. If you saw Valeta in the 70s, in the 80s, in the 90s, even early 2000s, you wouldn’t have recognized the incredible work they’ve done with um Fort Santelmo. But um alas, let’s leave the fort uh a little bit behind and let’s focus on the beautiful views that we have ahead of us. So the area literally arising across from the water in here is the area of uh SMA and uh we have actually a tour of SMA that we do uh sometimes where we actually walk on that area and we look towards where we’re walking through now just so that you can get the you know backtoback kind of idea. Uh but these by the way are a couple of buildings that were originally in the hands of um the knights of San George I’m sorry of uh St. John, this is uh what we call the the langis. And the langis were essentially the um uh sort of divisions of the knights of the order that have specific buildings like the ones you’ve just seen called the uber which are essentially like you know an outpost for the different divisions. Well, over in the area of SMA, uh we actually uh have one of the most upand cominging residential and commercial centers in uh Valleta, the island. Uh although again I I really must emphasize um what in Malta are considered to be different towns and cities for many people in Europe or the United States or well frankly anywhere in the world um really um they would feel more like neighborhoods of one big um urban district than different uh you know cities. I walked many times from Valeta to SMA and it’s a walk of about 45 minutes an hour if you start at the very top end of the city walls. So it’s um it’s you know a different I guess uh idea of urbanization but SMA in in that regards is um the the more residential and commercial and definitely newer area of uh of Valeta Island in yeah overall terms. Uh in fact um um if I remember correctly um it is actually most densely populated than Valeta itself. You you may be surprised that well despite we’re walking around this beautiful city the total population of Valeta currently is less than 10,000 people and it’s just going up because well like I said the extensive uh uh restoration works um kind of have now started to bring people back to the city but you know after the war nobody wanted to live in Baletta and very few people could because frankly there wasn’t much of it left so um Sama in that regards is the is the hip cool place where to live in. And Sama is uh an interesting place. We’re not terribly sure what the name actually means or where it comes from. We think it means peace or comfort and it may have come from um either uh the old Maltese language or perhaps Arabic. Um the Maltese uh language uh is actually well similar close to Arabic because it’s um an Aramaic um language in that regards but we are not really sure what it means. Some have suggested that um it may have been something like Hail Mary and that it may have been in reference to one of the first churches built in the area by the order of St. John that no longer survives. But frankly we have no way of proving that. So you know it’s one theory like many others if you see what I mean. Well the uh area of SMA will actually be built and will this uh little train that you seen here is the the touristic train that actually gets you uh pretty much across most of the island of Valeta. By the way you see it in Mdina as well. So you know it definitely gets around. But yeah, the area of SMA was mostly developed in the second half of the 19th century as a resort for wealthy people from uh Valeta. And you’re probably wondering, well, they’re literally just across the water from each other. And you said you can walk from one to the other in in barely an hour. So what was that about? Well, you know, Valeta um was often considered very much a city for the military. That’s what the majority of the people that lived in the city worked as. So, this was kind of like, you know, the the weekend home where you went to um to be by the coast and have a nice quiet time, so to speak. Well, as um we are getting to the bottom half here of uh Valeta, properly speaking, we’re literally going all around the island. We’re now facing the or or we’re walking on the um side of the uh uh eastern uh wall. We have um well uh a couple of other important monuments in here. You see next to these very beautiful buildings that have been renovated and that have the the uh balconies uh we have the the tower of um one of the cathedrals of uh of Valeta and it’s it’s a complicated situation because this is the the spy of St. Paul Pro Cathedral. On the other tour of Valeta that we do, we have St. John Coa. Um, so what is the the point of pro Cathedral Coal? What is all this about? Well, you see, it’s actually quite um tricky situation. But first, let me very quickly tell you about the island that is just coming through here and that you’ve seen in conjunction to uh SMA. Um the the island right in front of us next to Islama is actually Manuel Island. Um it was actually named after the Grandmaster Manuel Deena who actually built a fort in there in 1720s and it is actually connected with a a bridge um to Valeta itself and to the area of Syama by the world. nowadays is essentially a very posh uh jut yard but for a long long time it was owned by the bishop of Malta and later on it was essentially a a hospital um for the longest time well the idea here with uh St. Paul’s pro cathedral and we are now going through the back end of uh the procathedral is that this is the Anglican church you see Malta is mostly a Catholic country so St. John’s co-cathedral is of Catholic doctrine. But uh when essentially um the British arrived here um well they kind of had a a problem. You see originally it was essentially a parish church that temporarily served as cathedral or shared duties with the cathedral. And um in the 19th century when queen Adelaide actually came here from Britain um she found that there was no proper Anglican churches in not even in Valeta in the whole of Malta. So at the end of the day the British were the overlords. The church of England needed representation. So that is what the pro cathedral of St. Paul actually represents. And as you can see as well it is St. Paul just like the famous Cathedral of St. Paul’s in London. Well, complicated situations, cultural situations here in in Malta and Valeta of course through and through. But you know it’s what happens when you have a not just a city but a country like I said with such mix of um cultures and well here in the corner you’re seeing something very common to still see all over u Malta by the way these saints uh which are you know devotional figurines um to all kinds of saints Virgin Marys etc. Most of them often appear in the corners of uh churches, but as you can see in here, we have two of them facing each other off. Um sometimes they are reminiscent of churches that no longer existing there. Sometimes they are literally just there because well is part of you know Catholic adoration but that is the little church that you can see right there that the saint uh belongs to. And well, we’re now essentially heading back towards the main city center of uh Valeta, but I wanted to um talk to you about a couple more uh buildings and uh important places that we have around here and also to give you a feeling of what it’s like to actually walk through a street in in Valeta that isn’t, let’s say, not the main road because when you are around the area of St. John’s um coathedral, it’s so incredibly busy. But as with most cities, you just need to take one street backwards. You’re going to move much freely than uh anywhere else. Well, right over here, uh we have actually this um which is the entrance to the Basilica of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. In fact, this is the Lady of Mount Carmel. And the building behind it is the Basilica which by the way uh it’s the building that owns the massive dome that we always see when we look at Malta sorry at Valeta from afar. Um it was actually reconstructed after the war though the church itself has been here since the 16th century. The dome itself, you can just see the base from here, is 42 meters. Um, which if we are to believe the stories, was actually built that way to uh create some kind of rivalry with the cathedral uh with St. John’s uh co co- cathedral and um well, the Carmelites have actually been in Valeta since the 15th century because they actually came with the Spaniards. So many of the basilas and orders that we see in Malta have a lot of again correlations with Spain. And here right in front of us is Theatro Manuel and this is the theater in Valeta constructed in 1731 named after Manuel Deena that grandmaster that I was mentioning earlier and by the way is the third oldest still working theater in Europe. It has 623 seats. So, it’s not very big, but it’s still, you know, inspired and designed as it was back in the 18th century. Um, when it was built, it cost 2,186 kudi of the time. So, it was good money. And it’s uh built on three floors, by the way. The aesthetic is overall simple in the outside like the majority of uh Valeta. It’s uh what we call well mannerist uh architecture uh which although it is already belonging to the 18th century is something that will prevail in this country because of that military background through and through and it’s been well as most of the as most of the country heavily restored but well here we are already at the end. So I hope that you’ve enjoyed this uh tour and I hope that this has given you the inspiration to come and visit Malta. Take care of yourselves. Bye-bye.
In this virtual tour Dr Lillian Cespedes Gonzalez explores the area of the lower barakka in Valletta (Malta). We are bewildered by beautiful views of the Grand Harbour, the lovely shade of yellow of the limestone adorning the whole city and its history.
The walk takes us around the cost visiting sites such as the Siege Bell War memorial and Fort St Elmo. We learn about the awful impact of the Second World War and what it meant for the Maltese.
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