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Grandmaster's Palace, Valletta
The Grandmaster's Palace ( mt, Il-Palazz tal-Granmastru), officially known as The Palace ( mt, Il-Palazz), is a palace in Valletta, Malta. It was built between the 16th and 18th centuries as the palace of the Grand Master of the Order of St. John, who ruled Malta from 1530 to 1798, and was also known as the Magisterial Palace ( mt, Palazz Maġisterjali). When the knights were expelled by Napoleonic France, it became the National Palace. During the period of British rule beginning in 1800, it was the Governor's Palace ( mt, Palazz tal-Gvernatur). The Palace currently houses the Office of the President of Malta. It was also the seat of the Parliament of Malta from 1921 to 2015. Parts of the building, namely the Palace State Rooms and the Palace Armoury are open to the public as a museum run by Heritage Malta. The building is currently undergoing a major restoration project with only part of the armoury accessible to the public via the entrance on Merchant's Street. Locati ...
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Valletta St Johns Square Malta 2014 3
Valletta (, mt, il-Belt Valletta, ) is an administrative unit and capital of Malta. Located on the main island, between Marsamxett Harbour to the west and the Grand Harbour to the east, its population within administrative limits in 2014 was 6,444. According to the data from 2020 by Eurostat, the Functional Urban Area and metropolitan region covered the whole island and has a population of 480,134. Valletta is the southernmost capital of Europe, and at just , it is the European Union's smallest capital city. Valletta's 16th-century buildings were constructed by the Knights Hospitaller. The city was named after Jean Parisot de Valette, who succeeded in defending the island from an Ottoman invasion during the Great Siege of Malta. The city is Baroque in character, with elements of Mannerist, Neo-Classical and Modern architecture, though the Second World War left major scars on the city, particularly the destruction of the Royal Opera House. The city was officially recognised a ...
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City Block
A city block, residential block, urban block, or simply block is a central element of urban planning and urban design. A city block is the smallest group of buildings that is surrounded by streets, not counting any type of thoroughfare within the area of a building or comparable structure. City blocks are the space for buildings within the street pattern of a city, and form the basic unit of a city's urban fabric. City blocks may be subdivided into any number of smaller land lots usually in private ownership, though in some cases, it may be other forms of tenure. City blocks are usually built-up to varying degrees and thus form the physical containers or "streetwalls" of public space. Most cities are composed of a greater or lesser variety of sizes and shapes of urban block. For example, many pre-industrial cores of cities in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East tend to have irregularly shaped street patterns and urban blocks, while cities based on grids have much more regular arran ...
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Manuel Pinto Da Fonseca
Manuel Pinto da Fonseca (also ''Emmanuel Pinto de Fonseca''; 24 May 1681 – 23 January 1773) was a Portuguese nobleman, the 68th Grand Master of the Order of Saint John, from 1741 until his death. He undertook many building projects, introducing the Baroque style throughout Malta. The cost of these projects contributed to bankrupting the Order in the decades following his death. His views were comparatively liberal. In 1764, he agreed to the re-unification with the Protestant Prussian branch of the Order, without, however, receiving the approval of Pope Clement XIII. The pope did agree, reluctantly, to the expulsion of the Jesuits from Malta in 1768. Biography He was the son of Miguel Álvaro Pinto da Fonseca, '' Alcaide-Mór'' de Ranhados, and his wife, Ana Pinto Teixeira. The coat of arms of the Pinto portrays five red crescents, to symbolising that the Pinto de Fonseca family won five battles with the Ottomans. Before his election as Grand Master on 18 January 1741, Pin ...
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António Manoel De Vilhena
António Manoel de Vilhena (28 May 1663 – 10 December 1736) was a Portuguese nobleman who was the 66th Prince and Grand Master of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem from 19 June 1722 to his death in 1736. Unlike a number of the other Grand Masters, he was benevolent and popular with the Maltese people. Vilhena is mostly remembered for the founding of Floriana, the construction of Fort Manoel and the Manoel Theatre, and the renovation of the city of Mdina. Early life António Manoel de Vilhena was born in Lisbon on 28 May 1663 to the aristocrat and general Dom Sancho Manoel de Vilhena, 1st Count de Vila Flor and his first wife, Ana de Noronha. His father fought in wars in central Europe, in Brazil against the Dutch, and in the Portuguese Restoration War against the Spanish Crown. Vilhena was also a remote descendant by one of his direct paternal branches of the noble and royal Castilian . He was a remote uncle of the Duke of Terceira. Magistracy De Vilhena was elected Grand M ...
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Nicolau Nasoni
Nicolau Nasoni (or originally Niccoló Nasoni, 2 June 1691 – 30 August 1773) was an Italian artist and architect mostly active in Portugal. He became one of the most influential figures in Portuguese Baroque architecture with his original and vigorous and theatrical style of Baroque and Rococo architecture. Born in San Giovanni Valdarno, Grand Duchy of Tuscany, he received his education in Siena from Giuseppe Nicolo Nasini (1657–1736) from 1713 and 1720. During this early period he constructed a catafalque for Ferdinando de Medici in the cathedral of Siena and the triumphal arch for the reception of the new archbishop. At the same time he studied architecture and painting while working with his master for the Opera del Duomo di Siena. He was then employed, first as a painter in Rome and, between 1723 and 1725, in Malta. The new Grand Master of the Order of Malta was a Portuguese nobleman Dom António Manoel de Vilhena. Nasoni designed the Mars display for the parade in his ...
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Auberge D'Italie
The Auberge d'Italie ( mt, Berġa tal-Italja, it, Albergo d'Italia) is an auberge in Valletta, Malta. It was built at various stages in the late 16th century to house knights of the Order of Saint John from the langue of Italy, and it originally had a Mannerist design by Girolamo Cassar and several other architects. The building continued to be modified throughout the course of the 17th century, with the last major renovation being carried out in the 1680s during the magistracy of Gregorio Carafa, giving the building a Baroque character. After the Order was expelled from Malta in 1798, the auberge was used for a number of purposes, housing a military headquarters, an officers' mess, a museum, a school of arts, a courthouse, the General Post Office and various government departments. Until recently, it housed the Malta Tourism Authority, and there are undergoing works of restoration. It is now converted to host the national collection (previously at National Museum of Fine ...
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Jean De La Cassière
Fra' Jean l'Evesque de la Cassière (1502 – 21 December 1581) was the 51st Grand Master of the Order of Malta, from 1572 to 1581. He commissioned the building of the Conventual Church of the Order (now Saint John's Co-Cathedral) in Valletta, Malta, and is buried in its crypt. La Cassière had earned acclaim for his bravery in the battle of Zoara in Northern Africa where he had saved the colours of the Order. He was Grand Prior of the Order's Langue of Auvergne when he was elected on 30 January 1572 to succeed Pierre de Monte as Grand Master. The early years of his reign as Grand Master were marked by numerous disputes and quarrels between the Order and Bishop of Malta Martín Royas de Portalrubio over the latter's ecclesiastical jurisdiction. These disputes were unprecedented in the history of the Order since it had arrived in Malta in 1530 with a grant of virtual sovereignty from Emperor Charles V. La Cassière was unable to resolve the matter, which was finally submit ...
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Pierre De Monte
Fra' Pietro del Monte (1499 − 26 January 1572) was an Italian nobleman who was the 50th Grand Master of the Order of Saint John from 1568 to 1572. Pietro del Monte was born in Italy in 1499. His original name was Guido Lotti, but took the name San Savino del Monti in 1550. He was a nephew of Pope Julius III. Prior to his arrival in Malta he was a friar in Capua. He also fought in the siege of Rhodes of 1522. During the Great Siege of Malta of 1565, del Monte was in command of Fort Saint Michael in Senglea. For most of the siege, the fort was cut off from the bulk of the Order's forces in Birgu. Del Monte managed to hold the fort for 55 days until the arrival of de Toledo's relief force on 8 September. Del Monte was appointed as Grand Master on 23 August 1568, three days after his predecessor Jean Parisot de Valette's death. During his rule as Grand Master, del Ponte continued the construction of the new capital Valletta. In 1569, he built Del Monte Gate to a design by France ...
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Pietà, Malta
Pietà ( mt, Tal-Pietà) is a small town in the Central Region of Malta, located near the outskirts of the capital city Valletta. Pietà is the suburb next-closest to the capital after Floriana. Its name is derived from Italian and signifies "Mercy." Etymology The name of Pietà in Italian means Mercy. Description Malta's former national hospital, St. Luke's, is located in Tal-Pietà. Tal-Pietà is a coastal town, and an old boathouse of notable historic interest (now in use as a restaurant) is located on the waterfront. The town is named after a Church of Our Lady of Sorrows dating back to the 17th and 18th centuries which is still in active use today. A couple of streets nearby bear the names of St. Augustine and his mother, St. Monica. Tal-Pietà was a departure point for the Gozo ferry before the construction of a yacht marina. The patrol boat depot of the Armed Forces of Malta is located at the Hay Wharf in nearby Floriana. Also within the boundaries of Pietà are St ...
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Langue (Knights Hospitaller)
A langue or tongue ( it, lingua) was an administrative division of the Knights Hospitaller (also known as the Order of St. John of Jerusalem) between 1319 and 1798. The term referred to a rough ethno-linguistic division of the geographical distribution of the Order's members and possessions. Each langue was subdivided into Priories or Grand Priories, Bailiwicks and Commanderies. Each langue had an ''auberge'' as its headquarters, some of which still survive in Rhodes, Birgu and Valletta. History The Knights Hospitaller began to take the features of a state following its acquisition of Rhodes and nearby islands in the early 14th century. The subdivision of the Order into ''langues'' began in 1319 during a meeting of the Chapter General in Montpellier. For the purposes of administration of the Order's possessions in Europe, the langues were divided into ''grand priories'', some of which were further divided into ''priories'' or ''bailiwicks'', and at the lowest level into '' ...
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Auberge De Castille
The Auberge de Castille ( mt, Berġa ta' Kastilja) is an auberge in Valletta, Malta. The auberge is located at Castile Place, close to Saint James Cavalier, the Malta Stock Exchange, and the Upper Barrakka Gardens. It sits at the highest point of Valletta and overlooks Floriana and the Grand Harbour area. Built in the Baroque style under the magistracy of Manuel Pinto da Fonseca in the 1740s, it replaced a 1574 building erected to house knights of the Order of Saint John from the langue of Castile, León and Portugal. History Hospitaller rule Auberge de Castille was built in 1573–74 to designs of the architect Girolamo Cassar. The original auberge, which took over the role of an earlier Auberge de Castille et Portugal in the former capital Birgu, was built in the Mannerist style, and it was regarded as Cassar's most innovative design. The auberge had a single storey, and its façade had panelled pilasters dividing it into 11 bays. The design of the auberge is known fro ...
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