The Malta Portal
Malta, officially known as the Republic of Malta, is a small island nation comprising an archipelago of seven islands (Malta, Gozo (Għawdex) Comino (Kemmuna) Filfla, Cominotto (Kemmunett) Manoel, Selmunett (St.Paul's Islands)) in the Mediterranean Sea. A country of Southern Europe, Malta lies south of Sicily, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The country's official languages are Maltese and English. Roman Catholicism is the most practised religion. The islands constituting the Maltese nation have been ruled by various powers and fought over by many states for centuries. Malta has been a member state of the European Union (EU) since 2004 and it is currently the smallest EU country both in population and in area.
Selected ArticleThe Valletta Royal Opera House was an opera house and performing arts venue in Valletta, Malta. It was designed by English architect Edward Middleton Barry and was erected in 1866. In 1873 its interior was extensively damaged by fire but was eventually restored by 1877. The theatre, Valletta's most imposing landmark, was bombed to the ground during World War II in 1942, and left in ruins to this very day. It was used as one of the first performance stages for new artists.The design of the building was entrusted to Edward Middleton Barry, the architect of Covent Garden Theatre. The original plans had to be altered because the sloping streets on the sides of the theater hadn’t been taken into consideration. This resulted in a terrace being added on the side of Strada Reale, nowadays known as Republic Street. (more...) Selected Locality Senglea is a fortified city in the east of Malta, mainly in the Grand Harbour area. It is one of the Three Cities, with the other two being Cospicua and Vittoriosa. The city of Senglea is also called Citta Invicta, because it managed to resist the Ottoman invasion at the Great Siege of 1565. The proper name is Senglea since the grandmaster who built it Claude De La Sengle, gave this city a part of his name. The island was in fact joined by a landbridge to Cospicua during the time of the Knights of St. John and as a result, it became peninsular in shape. During the time of the Knights of St. John, Senglea was also used as a hunting area, and was in fact known as L'Isola di San Giuliano, but later it was developed and made inhabitable by the Grand Master, Claude de la Sengle who built fortifications following a Turkish invasion in 1551. The locality eventually became known as Senglea but retained its old name Isla. (more...) Selected Picture Photo credit: Väsk
The traditional Maltese balcony, is a wooden closed balcony projecting from a wall. In the case of Valletta, richly decorated balconies also served another purpose. One of the building regulations laid down by the knights for their new city was that blocks had to display some form of sculptural ornamentation at the corners. These ornamentations took three distinct forms. They were either niches with religious images, monumental pilaster and cornices that complimented the architectural style of the elevations or balconies that wrapped themselves around the block. Such balconies can be observed all around Valletta. Examples of these are the side wooden balconies of the Grand Master's Palace, which were in place by 1741. Did you know
UNESCO World Heritage SitesCategories Select [►] to view subcategories
Malta topicsRelated PortalsThings You Can Do
Geography stubs · People stubs · Malta stubs in general
Help us categorize Maltese-related articles
Have a look at WikiProject Malta. Wikipedia in Maltese
Associated WikimediaThe following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:
Discover Wikipedia using portals
| ||||||
