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The Zamittello Palace, also known as Castello Zamittello ( mt, Kastel Zamittellu) or Zamittello Tower, is a 19th-century
The Zammitello Palace is a 19th-century ornate
Victorian
Victorian or Victorians may refer to:
19th century
* Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign
** Victorian architecture
** Victorian house
** Victorian decorative arts
** Victorian fashion
** Victorian literature ...
countryside folly on the outskirts of MÄ¡arr
Mġarr ( mt, L-Imġarr), formerly known as ''Mgiarro'', is a village in the Northern Region of Malta. Mġarr is a typical rural village situated in an isolated region, west of Mosta. It is surrounded with rich farmland and vineyards. Many of it ...
, Malta, on the road leading to Ä nejna. It was built by Sir Giuseppe Nicola Zamitt and has remained in the same family for the past 200 years. Count Francis Sant Cassia,a cousin of the owner, was its last resident and was murdered outside the premises in 1988. To date the case has not been solved. It is now used for private functions and wedding reception
A wedding reception is a party usually held after the completion of a marriage ceremony as hospitality for those who have attended the wedding, hence the name reception: the couple ''receive'' society, in the form of family and friends, for t ...
s.
History
The castle was built by the Sir Giuseppe Nicola Zamitt in the early nineteenth century as a countryside folly in the limits ofMÄ¡arr
Mġarr ( mt, L-Imġarr), formerly known as ''Mgiarro'', is a village in the Northern Region of Malta. Mġarr is a typical rural village situated in an isolated region, west of Mosta. It is surrounded with rich farmland and vineyards. Many of it ...
in Malta, although commercial sources claim that it dates back to 1675.
The last resident, Count Francis Sant Cassia was a cousin of the owner Count Francis Manduca and was murdered just outside the premises on 27 October 1988. The case has not been solved. It is now used as a wedding venue and for private functions.
Architecture
The Zammitello Palace is a 19th-century ornate architectural folly
In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but suggesting through its appearance some other purpose, or of such extravagant appearance that it transcends the range of usual garden buildings.
Eighteenth-cent ...
, built in imitation of the Tower of London
The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is separa ...
. Although it resembles a fortification, according to military architecture expert Stephen C. Spiteri, it is "entirely useless from a defensive point of view".
The names given to the building are a misnomer
A misnomer is a name that is incorrectly or unsuitably applied. Misnomers often arise because something was named long before its correct nature was known, or because an earlier form of something has been replaced by a later form to which the name ...
as it is closely comparable to a country house villa, and its outline is a square-shaped residence designed with typical Victorian architecture
Victorian architecture is a series of architectural revival styles in the mid-to-late 19th century. ''Victorian'' refers to the reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901), called the Victorian era, during which period the styles known as Victorian we ...
. It prominently features one roof-level turret
Turret may refer to:
* Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building
* Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon
* Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope
* Mi ...
and four guerite
A bartizan (an alteration of ''bratticing''), also called a guerite, ''garita'', or ''échauguette'', or spelled bartisan, is an overhanging, wall-mounted Turret (architecture), turret projecting from the walls of late medieval and early-modern ...
s. The latter have a unique design and were never desirable nor used in Maltese military context. Above the turret sits a Christian cross, in the form of a crucifix.
Further reading
*. *References
Notes {{commons category inline, Castello Zamittello Palaces in Malta Victorian architecture in Malta MÄ¡arr