Old Maltese Footage

Past memories of Malta on video are a rare find especially of the 30s with people in Ghonella, milking of cows, the old City Gate and the general lifestyle of the people of the time. Enjoy this 9 minute footage from 1933 of Malta then....

The Royal Opera House, Valletta

The Royal Opera House in Valletta has been on the minds of the Maltese for ages. After more than 50 odd years it still stands in ruins and the dilemma always was whether to rebuild it as it was, give it a contemporary look or rebuild something totally different from the original purpose.



Once again we are debating the issue and a decision is now being made to finalise it. As it stands now, the site is to be used as the Parliament of Malta - shifting it from the Palace Square. A number of locals disagree about this. Some say that the site is still small for a decent opera house which the Maltese badly lack. The Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja is quite shocked at the idea of relinquishing the chance of having the site as a proper Opera House in his own country.

It is not an easy matter to solve but the locals are now convinced that it is about time we revamp Valletta in time for the 450th Anniversay of the city in 2018. The most critical issues at the time is The opera house, St Elmo, the entrance gate and the creation of car parking. The Valletta Alive Foundation had organised a seminar on exactly this matter.

A site set up expressly for the opera house project is at http://www.maltaoperahouse.com/ in which there are those who express their disagreement with the Parliament proposal.

Renzo Piano is once again to be consulted about this major project to Valletta.

Whatever the outcome it is now time that we stop further discussions and get on with the job once and for all.

Victory Day

Victory Dayfor Malta is celebrated on the 8th of September recalling the victories of the Great Siege of 1565 and the Second World War. The Maltese had undergone a great hardship in the last war and all those veterans that remember it all have memories of hunger and lack which today's generation can hardly imagine or even care to know. However the yearly commemorations would help to keep future generations from forgetting the hardships of our forefathers.

I came across this link that should be of interest to those who relate with World War II. Here are also some significant pictures of those times.

Beaufighter

Valletta Grand Harbour during WW II

Operation Pedestal

The Brisbane

The Ohio




.......and also an interesting video on the Spitfires used during the War:



My father had served in the RAF between 1942 and 1945 and I recently gathered his memories and incidents he had during the war days in a book entitled War Scrawls. He says that though they were hard times he often thinks of those days with a kind of nostalgia of a particular era where thrift and ingenuity had to be exercised to just survive. Today's wasteful economy is a far cry from the mindset of those days.

Old Opera House in Valletta

The old Opera House in Valletta has lately been given a hi-tech proposal as a possible solution to its ruins of the last odd 50 years.

"Today there is a consensus on a vision to regenerate the Opera House site and to offer the space in a better form to the people," Carlo Schembri, a designer and promoter of the project, said.

Mr. Edward Middleton Barry was the architect who designed the Royal Opera House of Malta.

The controversey over whether to rebuilt it in its orignial state or give it a modern twist remains but as Edward Debono, the lateral thinker said, that "unless we choose to design our future, something or somebody else will design it for us".

photo: timesofmalta.com

A structure that is flexible and can be dismantled in no time according to future needs is the concept behind Giovanni Trevisan, a Venetian architect who developed the concept over the past four years and has now returned to Malta to exhibit his proposal through the Edward De Bono Foundation.

It is worth noting that the structure is similar to the Grand and Petit Palais in Paris.

Before......and now!!!

Royal Opera House, Valletta

On Friday, May 18th, 1565, the fleet of the Ottoman Empire was sighted by the watchmen of The Knights of the Order of St. John at Forts St. Elmo and St. Angelo, heading for Malta.

And yesterday was the 442nd anniversary of what the event has been known since then as the Great Siege of Malta.

This reminds me of the ravages of (another) war - the second World War - that we are still facing every day. I am referring to the Royal Opera House (architect Edward Middleton Barry) in Valletta which was demolished 65 years ago on 7 April 1942. In 1955 a decision was taken to rebuild it but was cancelled at the last minute. Later on in the 80s and 90s other attempts were undertaken but either the lack of funds or lack of consensus from the public on its new architecture kept the Opera House in ruins. It's history is fascinating but what are we waiting for to get down to restoring it? For Godot, perhaps!!!




This is how the Royal Opera House looks today.

(photo: M Attard)

Valletta, Bus Terminus

When I came across this old picture of the Malta tram terminus (of about 1930s or 40s) I could not figure out where could it be.

Today it is totally revamped and not easy to make the connection with that picture. The belvedere on top of the bastions could give you a suggestion of the place but on the other hand there are several similar ones when looking at the skylines from Hastings Gardens, now Gnien Il-Gardjola. Besides, on the old picture there was Floriana written on top - and you wonder.

What gave the picture away, after some time, of course, were the block of buildings down in the ditch. They're still there exactly as in that picture. (photo M Atttard)

Today there are trees hiding the ditch area from the same viewpoint that picture was taken. So I wanted to present how this area is today with all the changes and new status of the place by taking two shots - one of area above and one of the ditch where until recently it was used as a car park. No trams exist anymore but buses took over the place.

Nowadays the Triton Fountain have pride of place in the centre around which the buses collect their passengers and drive by the devils and on to ......hopefully not hell! Along the years we remember well the colourful village buses who were later slowly replaced by better coaches - all in one colour.

(photo M Attard)
This week around 150 old buses were sold off for a LM100 each for scrapping.

Probably none will be preserved for a transport museum which is in the pipeline. It was intended also that some of the buses will be used on tourist routes.

Soon some odd 370 other buses are scheduled for scrapping too. Perhaps both the tourists routes and the transport museum will be satisfied from these lot.

For comparison with the old picture, check the barely visible belvedere right on top of the fountain in the above picture. You will understand better the bearings of the place.

Submarine entering Valletta in 1965

For the lovers of seacraft I found this short clip of a submarine entering grand harbour in 1965, taken by Roger Neil of UK.

Nowadays you are more likely to see a cruise ship or two - sometimes four - in the Grand Harbour of Valletta. The era when the crisp white sailors crossed to shore from their Navy ships, onto dghajjes (boats), is long gone by. They were quite a sight....although I was only a kid then!