First Sunday cultural tour focuses on Cottonera

The first of five cultural tours being organised by the Ministry of Tourism and Culture in collaboration with the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts (KMKA), Malta Tourism Authority (MTA) and Heritage Malta will take place on Sunday.

This first tour will visit the Three Cities - Vittoriosa, Cospicua and Senglea, taking in the Couvre Porte and the Inquisitor's Palace in Vittoriosa, il Collachio, the Second World War monument and the Collegiate Church of the Immaculate Conception in Cospicua, and Gardjola Gardens in Senglea. The tour will also include various historical re-enactments designed to bring the story of the sites being visited to life.

Participants in this first tour will enter the city of Vittoriosa through one of its most interesting features, the 'Three Gates': the Advanced Gate, the Couvre Porte and the Main Gate.

From the entrance the tour will proceed to the Inquisitor's Palace, currently hosting "The Art of Pain" exhibition on torture instruments from the middle ages until the 19th century. The exhibition, usually based at the Torture Museum of San Gimignano in Tuscany, is a display of over 100 disquieting and incredibly sophisticated pieces of equipment illustrating how human ingenuity knows no limits in the search for the most atrocious methods of inflicting pain.

Apart from access to this fascinating exhibition, at no extra cost, visitors will have the opportunity to explore the Inquisitor's Palace in its own right. The palace was erected in the 1530s as the civil law courts of the Order of St John soon after the Knights arrived in Malta. It continued to serve as the law courts until 1571, when the Order transferred its headquarters to Valletta.

Mgr Pietro Dusina arrived in Malta in 1574 as the first general inquisitor and apostolic delegate of the Maltese Islands. The Grand Master offered him the unused palace as an official residence.

The Inquisitor's Palace is now home to the museum of Ethnography. It focuses on the popular devotions and religious values latent in Maltese ethnic identity and culture up to the present day.

The palace was the ideal place to emphasise such a concept since the raison d'être of the Inquisition was to model popular devotions and religious culture and make them conform to the official doctrines sanctioned by the Church and imposed by the Council of Trent (1545-63).

From the Inquisitor's Palace, the tour will then move on into the heart of Vittoriosa, known as Il Collachio. This was the area of the city reserved specifically for members of the Order of St John. Within the Collachio still stand the various early Auberges, set up by the Knights on their arrival in Malta following their expulsion from Rhodes.

From Vittoriosa, the tour will then move on to the youngest of the three cities, Cospicua, the plans for which were laid out in 1717 on a grid pattern. The tour will visit the church dedicated to the Immaculate Conception, which was originally built in 1584, enlarged in 1637, and finally consecrated in 1732.

The final stop on this first tour will be the Gardiola Gardens in Senglea which was also planned on a grid pattern in 1551 by Grand Master De La Sengle. Here one can enjoy the panoramic view of Grand Harbour.

The sentry box placed on the tip of the bastion, il-gardjola, epitomises the role of the fortifications around the harbour. On the sentry box there are sculptured in high relief various symbols of watchfulness, namely the eye, the ear, and the crane bird.

"These tours offer Maltese and tourists alike the opportunity to discover some of our country's most fascinating cultural and historical sites while at the same time enjoying historical re-enactments which are not only entertaining but also help to explain the importance and relevance of these sites. In the past, similar activities have attracted a good response from the public so I would urge anyone who is interested to contact us early to guarantee a place," said Noel D'Amato from KMKA.

The four remaining cultural tours will take place on March 13, April 3, April 17 and May 8. The cultural tours may be extended to visit historic sites in Gozo, but further details will be announced later.

The tours which will run until May will also include visits to the area around Rabat, Dingli and Buskett, a tour of Valletta, a visit to various sites in and around Mgarr, as well as a visit to Mdina.

Participation is open to all over the age of five and tickets are available from the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts at Lm3.25 for adults or Lm2.90 for children under 12 and pensioners for an individual tour. Those who wish to take part in all five tours will benefit from a special price of Lm15 for adults and Lm13 for children under 12 and pensioners.

Bookings and payments can be made at the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts, Casa Gaspe, 230 Republic Street, Valletta CMR 02 (Monday to Friday between 8 a.m. and 3.30 p.m.). Transport will also be provided for these tours departing at 8.45 a.m. either in Floriana, next to the Independence Monument, or from The Strand in Sliema. For more information call Noel D'Amato or Noel Sammut at KMKA on 2123-2515.