A country of contrasts

The Maltese love to complain and grumble but all often we fail to stop and take a good look around us to realise how very lucky we are.

Yes, built up and developing areas abound but there is also a decent portion of the island that has remained relatively unspoilt and, even in the so-called "spoilt" areas, where buildings seem to be sprouting overnight, there is still a "form" of beauty in the contrast of co-existing contexts and realities.

These contrasting views of the one and the same country are part and parcel of the Maltese islands' fabric and make up and it is this facet which the forthcoming edition of the Miranda's Panoramic Malta 360° attempts to portray.

Already in its fourth edition (with a new name and a new look), Miranda Publishers decided to re-work the book and adapt it to the ever-changing environment that Malta has been witnessing in silence over the past decades.

But, although the country is constantly subjected to change, there are some aspects that seem to remain unaltered, like certain traditions pertinent to Malta's folklore and certain ways of life that seem to have remained unaffected by the hands of time.

Here, farmers still take their flocks of sheep to graze in pastures green and Joe, the Mdina gilder, continues to work away at his Tal-Lira clocks in his little corner shop/studio; the bastions still fortify our cities, perhaps defending themselves from the weather's harsh elements instead of the people within.

This edition has been researched and written by Geoffrey Aquilina Ross while Enrico Formica - the man behind the lens - is responsible for capturing and documenting the images that Miranda's Eddie Aquilina sees in his mind's eye.

Mr Formica has been known to describe Malta as un museo al cielo aperto, an open-air museum.

And, in these images, Malta - rural or urban - does look her best. Flowers are in bloom, the baroque churches have been dressed in full regalia, palaces void of visitors seem like quiet sanctuaries and the sea, sky and beaches almost seem to belong to a haven, as yet untouched by man.

While Panoramic Malta 360° will be available for purchase at the end of the month, Miranda Publishers are working on other books in the series, such as St John's Co-Cathedral, Gozo (second edition), Underground Malta (edition three), The Treasures of the Knights of St John in Malta and more than one volume focusing on chapels in Malta.

www.mirandabooks.com