This is one amazing island. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean, Malta is a historian's paradise, as it blends multiple cultures to produce something truly unique. Let's begin our tour.
Uploaded on: 2019-08-22. Updated on: 2025-12-17.
Map showing Malta location (opens in OpenStreetMap)
The island has been contested by many powers, including the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, Romans, Greeks, Arabs, Normans, Aragonese, Knights Hospitallers (aka Order of Saint John), French, and British.ISO 100, 24mm, f/4.5, 1/200s.
The Silent City (or Mdina) may silent now, but it used to be the island's capital from antiquity to the medieval period. [2]ISO 100, 24mm, f/7.1, 1/500s.
"Maltese language is descended from Siculo-Arabic, the extinct variety of Arabic that developed in Sicily and was later introduced to Malta, between the end of the ninth century and the end of the twelfth century." [3]ISO 100, 38mm, f/3.5, 1/250s.
The city withstood a siege by Hafsid invaders in 1429 - a Sunni Muslim dynasty of Berber descent who ruled Ifriqiya (western Libya, Tunisia, and eastern Algeria) from 1229 to 1574. [4]ISO 100, 70mm, f/3.5, 1/640s.
St. Paul's cathedral was founded in the 12th century, and according to tradition it stands on the site of where Roman governor Publius met St. Paul following his shipwreck on Malta. [5]ISO 100, 4mm, f/2.6, 1/240s.
This is the town of Rabat - name of the town is derived from the Arabic word for 'suburb': الرباط, as it was the suburb of the old capital Mdina. [7]ISO 100, 24mm, f/4.0, 1/320s.
This church is built on part of the site of the Roman city Melite, which included all of Mdina and a large part of present-day Rabat. ISO 100, 24mm, f/5.6, 1/500s.
Some years after the Arab conquest, the Normans attacked Malta in 1091, as part of their conquest of Sicily. They were welcomed by the Christians.ISO 2200, 44mm, f/2.8, 1/50s.
Many centuries later, the French took over under Napoleon, for Malta to become part of the British Empire, a valuable asset from a naval point of view.ISO 9000, 24mm, f/2.8, 1/50s.
While the island was ruled by the Knights Hospitaller, the Ottomans decided to expand further west. The Ottoman Empire was thought to be invincible.ISO 100, 24mm, f/13.0, 1/200s.
In 1565, the Ottomans attacked, massively outnumbering the defenders, in what became known as the Great Siege of Malta. [9]ISO 100, 28mm, f/8.0, 1/400s.
What followed a couple of years was the naval Battle of Lepanto. "The defeat at Lepanto further exemplified the rapid deterioration of Ottoman might under Selim II, and Christians rejoiced at this setback for the Ottomans." [10]ISO 100, 70mm, f/2.8, 1/2500s.
The National Library of Malta was founded by the Grand Master of Knights Hospitalliers, Emmanuel de Rohan-Polduc, in 1776 out of the collections of the knight Louis Guérin de Tencin. [11]ISO 1400, 24mm, f/2.8, 1/50s.
The house has over fifty rooms, including two libraries, two dining rooms, many drawing rooms, and a chapel. I found this book on a Polish castle, too.ISO 5000, 24mm, f/4.0, 1/50s.
The so called fat lady is a common feature of ancient Maltese culture, but its meaning (or even gender!) is uncertain. [14]ISO 140, 28mm, f/3.2, 1/50s.
Birgu served as the base of the Order of Saint John and de facto capital city of Malta from 1530 to 1571. Its population has more than halved in the last 100 years. [15]ISO 1400, 24mm, f/2.8, 1/50s.
When they arrived in 1530, they decided to make Birgu the capital city of Malta, since the former capital, Mdina, was inland and did not suit their naval requirements.ISO 1000, 24mm, f/2.8, 1/50s.
On the ferry, there was a Polish couple. The woman was afraid to go to the toilet on her own, and asked her partner to stand outside the toilet to guard it - which he found ridiculous. While she was inside, he was making funny noises, knocking on the door, and telling her to hurry up. She was furious.ISO 100, 24mm, f/9.0, 1/400s.
This is the Cittadella, the site it now occupiees is believed to have been the acropolis of the Punic-Roman city of Gaulos or Glauconis Civitas. [17]ISO 100, 45mm, f/2.8, 1/5000s.
As impressive as its walls seem, the castle's defences were obsolete by the 16th century, and in 1551 an Ottoman force invaded Gozo and sacked the Cittadella. ISO 100, 24mm, f/4.5, 1/3200s.
The Order of St. John was in a state of perpetual war against the Ottoman Empire, which had expelled it from its previous base at Rhodes in 1522. After the Great Siege of Malta, the Cittadella was undamaged but obsolete, so it was modernised, and turned into a star fort.ISO 100, 44mm, f/8.0, 1/640s.
A canopy or covering supported by columns, freestanding in the sanctuary, that stands over and covers the altar in a basilica or other church - is known as ciborium. [19]ISO 4500, 14mm, f/2.8, 1/50s.
The Ġgantija temples are older than the pyramids of Egypt. Their makers erected the two Ġgantija temples during the Neolithic (c. 3600–2500 BC), which makes these temples more than 5500 years old and the world's second oldest existing manmade religious structures after Göbekli Tepe in present-day Turkey. [20]ISO 200, 24mm, f/2.8, 1/50s.
The temples are elements of a ceremonial site in a fertility rite. Researchers have found that the numerous figurines and statues found on site are associated with that cult. According to local Gozitan folklore, a giantess who ate nothing but broad beans and honey bore a child from a man of the common people. With the child hanging from her shoulder, she built these temples and used them as places of worship. [20]ISO 100, 24mm, f/2.8, 1/2000s.
"A church was founded here, on the second largest island of the Maltese archipelago, after the rock formation just below it was seen to resemble that at Lourdes." [21]ISO 100, 24mm, f/5.6, 1/125s.
