Welcome to Birgu

Hello, and welcome to the first installment of my blog:  Birgu, a 2020 vision.

Birgu, also known as Città Vittoriosa, is a city in the Mediterranean island of Malta. It occupies a small peninsula, jutting into the Grand Harbour, to the south-east of Malta’s capital Valletta.

At the seaward end of the peninsula is the imposing Fort St. Angelo.  On the landward side are a ditch and tall, thick defensive bastions.  In between is a small city of narrow streets that houses approximately 2,600 people.

Many of these streets, and even some of the houses, are over 500 years old. Indeed, although tiny, Birgu is arguably one of the most important cities in the history of Western Europe during the last 500 years.   Its position by a sheltered harbour in the middle of the Mediterranean made it an important naval base, first for the Knights of St John (1530 – 1798), and later for the British Empire (1800 – 1979).

As a result Birgu played a key role in the prevention of the  sixteenth century expansion of the Ottoman Empire into southern Europe in the sixteenth century, and under the British acted as a Mediterranean outpost for the Royal Navy in the Crimean War and both World Wars.

I am a recent a newcomer to Birgu.  I’ve visited often over the past few years, but moved to live here in March 2019.  I was already aware of a lot of the history that is wrapped up in the narrow streets of the city, but these last nine months have opened up to me a world of culture and tradition that I could only previously imagine.

The city’s calendar is punctuated by the processions of Good Friday and Easter; by the statues, brass bands, and fireworks of the festas, which celebrate the saints of the city; and by the night of Birgufest when the whole city is lit by only candles.  But in between these seminal events,  Birgu offers endless points of interest: historical, traditional, architectural.  It is the culture of my new home that I plan to share through the writing of this blog.