The Auberge d'Aragon ( mt, Berġa ta' Aragona) is an auberge in
Valletta,
Malta. It was built in 1571 to house knights of the
Order of Saint John from the
langue
Langue is a municipality in the Valle Department, Honduras.
The town is located near the border of El Salvador and is a regional Hammock making center. Most of the town is made up of sharecroppers and day laborers. There are usually Mormon miss ...
of
Aragon
Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to sou ...
,
Navarre
Navarre (; es, Navarra ; eu, Nafarroa ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre ( es, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, links=no ; eu, Nafarroako Foru Komunitatea, links=no ), is a foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, ...
and
Catalonia. It is the only surviving auberge in Valletta which retains its original
Mannerist design by the architect
Girolamo Cassar.
In the early 19th century, the building was requisitioned by the British military, and in 1842 it was leased to Bishop
George Tomlinson, being renamed Gibraltar House. At this point, a
neoclassical portico was added to the façade, by then the major addition to the exterior since the 16th century. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the auberge was also used as a printing press and a school. It was converted in a
hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...
during World War II.
It housed the Office of the
Prime Minister in 1921–33 and 1947–72. It has since housed various government ministries have used the building, since 2020 it houses the Ministry for Justice.
History
Hospitaller rule
Auberge d'Aragon was designed by the Maltese architect
Girolamo Cassar in 1566, making it the oldest auberge in the city of Valletta. The plot of land on which it was built was purchased on 20 September 1569 for the sum of 80
scudi and 8 tari.
Construction began in 1571.
In 1674, the Langue of Aragon built the
Church of Our Lady of Pilar adjacent to the auberge. The
1693 Sicily earthquake
The 1693 Sicily earthquake struck parts of southern Italy near Sicily, Calabria, and Malta on January 11 at around 21:00 local time. This earthquake was preceded by a damaging foreshock on January 9. The main quake had an estimated magnitude of 7. ...
caused serious damage to the façade and the southeast face of the auberge, but the damage was later repaired.
The church was also damaged, and it was rebuilt in a new design, being completed in 1718.
The Auberge has a large underground which was originally used for horses. A water system was installed at some point, possibly after the construction of the
Wignacourt Aqueduct. In the 18th century the underground was converted and used as an oven. This part of the Auberge was later buried, probably sometimes in the British period.
Initial studies claim that the oven served as a bakery. The access of the underground was substantially altered after the earthquake and the later erection of nearby buildings. After the rediscovery of the bakery, it was decided to restore it and open it to the public.
French and British periods
The Order of St. John was expelled from Malta with the
French invasion and occupation in 1798. Two years later, the Maltese Islands became a British protectorate, and the auberge was requisitioned by the Quartermaster.
From 1822 to 1824, the building housed the government printing press.
In the late 1830s, the building was the residence of the Chief Secretary to Government.
In 1842, the auberge was leased to
George Tomlinson, the Anglican Bishop of Gibraltar, and the building was known as Gibraltar House.
The only major alteration to the auberge, a
Doric portico
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...
leading to the main doorway, was probably built at this point.
After Malta was granted self-government in 1921, the auberge was converted into a school. In 1924, upon
Ugo Pasquale Mifsud's
election as
Prime Minister of Malta, the building became the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM). In 1931, there were plans to move the parliament from the
Grandmaster's Palace into the auberge, but nothing materialized. The building continued to house the OPM until the office was abolished upon the suspension of the constitution in 1933.
From 1933 to 1939 the building was left vacant.
In 1939, the auberge was given to the British Institute.
It was used as a hospital for British families during WWII known as the Military Families’ Hospital.
A new constitution was granted in 1947, restoring self-government and reestablishing the position of Prime Minister. At this point the British Institute moved to nearby
Casa Bolino.
The auberge was once again used as the OPM, with
Paul Boffa being the first Prime Minister to use it as his office.
On 16 January 1951, Prime Minister
George Borg Olivier presented a small bronze model of
Les Gavroches, created by artist
Antonio Sciortino, to Princess Elizabeth (now Queen
Elizabeth II) in a ceremony held at the building.
The islands became independent as the
State of Malta
The State of Malta ( mt, Stat ta’ Malta), commonly known as Malta, was the predecessor to the modern-day Republic of Malta. It existed between 21 September 1964 and 13 December 1974.
The Crown Colony of Malta became independent under the Malt ...
in 1964, and the independence was drafted on a table which still remains in the auberge today.
Independent Malta
Auberge d'Aragon continued to house the OPM until 1972, when
Dom Mintoff moved the Office to
Auberge de Castille, where it remains to this day.
The building subsequently housed the Ministry of Education and Culture, which was then led by Minister
Agatha Barbara
Agatha Barbara, (11 March 1923 – 4 February 2002) was a Maltese politician, having served as a Labour Member of Parliament and Minister. She was the first woman to serve as president of Malta, and remains the longest-serving woman Member ...
, who later became President of Malta. After the
1987 elections
The following elections occurred in the year 1987.
Africa
* 1987 Central African Republic parliamentary election
* 1987 Comorian legislative election
* 1987 Djiboutian general election
* 1987 Ethiopian general election
* 1987 Gambian general ele ...
, Parliamentary Secretary for Industry
John Dalli took up his offices in the auberge, and he also used it later as the Ministry for Economic Affairs. This was later renamed the Ministry of Economic Services, and after 2003 the Ministry of Finance and Economic Services.
In March 2004, the auberge became the Office of the
Deputy Prime Minister and the Ministry for Justice and Home Affairs. From 2012, it was used by the Ministry for Home and Parliamentary Affairs,
and it later became the Ministry for Home Affairs and the Ministry for EU Affairs. In 2016, the building housed the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister as well as the Parliamentary Secretary for the EU Presidency 2017 and EU Funds. Since 2017, the auberge has housed the Ministry for European Affairs and Equality.
During restoration works carried out in 2019, an early 18th century bakery oven, some wells and water canals were discovered buried under debris in an underground part of the auberge.
The building was included on the Antiquities List of 1925 together with the other auberges in Valletta. It is now scheduled as a Grade 1 national monument by the
Malta Environment and Planning Authority, and it is also listed on the
National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands.
Architecture
Auberge d'Aragon is built in the
Mannerist style typical of its architect
Girolamo Cassar, and it is the only auberge in Valletta which still retains its original design.
[ It is a single-story building with a rectangular plan and a central arcaded courtyard.]
The building does not have a symmetric façade, despite the effort of the architect to make it appear so. It contains a main doorway flanked by three moulded windows on either side. It is rather plain, with its decorative emphasis being the continuous cornice
In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...
along roof level and the rusticated corners. A Doric portico
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...
leads to the doorway, and it is the only major alteration to the auberge.
The building was originally painted in red ochre, a colour used by the Order to mark public buildings. Some traces of the paint can still be seen at the rear part of the auberge. The interior of the building contains some Renaissance-era rooms.
Notes
References
Further reading
*
External links
{{Valletta
Palaces in Valletta
Buildings and structures in Valletta
Mannerist architecture in Malta
Defunct schools in Malta
Defunct hospitals in Malta
Government buildings in Malta
Buildings and structures completed in 1571
Bakeries of Malta
Limestone buildings in Malta
National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands