It was no ordinary skirmish, but a feat of exceptional courage and savage cruelty as the Ottoman Turks were determined to wipe out Christendom from the earth
Vittoriosa, or Birgu in Maltese, the city of the heroic siege of 1565, today marks Malta’s iconic victory against the might of the Ottoman Empire at its mediaeval square with a commemorative oration by renowned mediaevalist Stanley Fiorini.
The ceremony, marking Birgu Day, will be followed by the official opening of the authentic Auberge de France, recently restored by members of the Employment Training Centre helped by central Government funds and other generous donations.
This square, once dominated by a watch tower, was once the most famous piazza in Christendom as it featured in siege maps that were printed and distributed in major European cities.
These maps, some of which were recently donated to Heritage Malta by renowned cartographer Albert Ganado, remain a constant tangible reminder of Malta’s heroic stand against the infidel as Europe watched with trepidation the ebb and flow of the siege.
This hallowed ground is not so much of a city square; it is a state-of-mind, articulating throughout the centuries the most outstanding events in the chequered history of our island.
Over 300 years ago, the Birgu Università (local administration), in collaboration with the Knights of St John under Grand Master Ramon Perellos, erected an imposing monument to commemorate the glorious victory and to honour the fallen: knights, Maltese and mercenaries, still buried in these precincts, so that “this victory column will forever proclaim the great event and ensure its commemoration on the exact site where many of the heroes were buried”.
When, in 1922, September 8 was declared a national feast, special national festivities were held near the Victory monument, decorated for the occasion.
The heroic deeds of the valiant defenders of the faith were once etched in marble on the facade of the imposing watch tower – an important landmark testifying to the bravery of the besieged, earning the city the title of Città Vittoriosa – the Victorious City.
This tower was later destroyed during World War II. The great French philosopher Voltaire, centuries later, was right when he proclaimed that “rien n’est plus connu que la siege de Malte” meaning “nothing is better known than the siege of Malta”.
For the bitter siege was no ordinary skirmish; on the contrary, it was marked by feats of exceptional courage and savage cruelty on both sides as triumphant Islam, led by the might of the Ottoman Turks, was basking in the glory of its dazzling victories that threatened to subdue and, ultimately, wipe out Christendom from the face of the earth.
But, at this moment in time in history, militant Islam had to struggle against a rampant religion as resolute, as savage and as ruthless as itself.
It was a time when cruelty was no crime. There was no Nuremberg trial to investigate and judge the macabre massacre when headless knights nailed on crosses floated across the Grand Harbour.
Nor to bring to justice the barbaric retaliation by Jean de Valette for the brutal beheading of innocent Turkish slaves, whose decapitated heads were used as cannon balls fired from Fort St Angelo.
Undoubtedly, it was no ordinary killing field.
In the annals of historic sieges, the Siege of Malta is considered one of the bloodiest in world military history, characterised by many strategic blunders by the Turkish high command.
A sense of history still eloquently pervades the narrow streets of Vittoriosa, recalling the days when the scions of Europe’s nobility made it their home and the church of St Lawrence the conventual church of the Order of St John.
It is the city that brought to the Order worldwide recognition and lasting fame. It is the city where the Order experienced its finest hour.
It was with tears and deep nostalgia that the knights left their beloved Vittoriosa for the new city in 1571.
Vittoriosa is still home to many places associated with the Great Siege. These include the conventual church; Fort St Angelo; the defiant sentinel of the siege; Auberge de France, which is to be officially opened after restoration works by the hard-working mayor, John Boxall; the humble but charming Auberge d’Angleterre;, the holy infirmary, now the home of the Benedictine cloistered nuns; the chapel of Our Lady of Damascus, with its miraculous icon in whose chapel de Valette left his battle sword; and the impressive fortifications near the Post of Castille, scene of the bloodiest skirmishes as depicted by the artist Matteo d’Aleccio in the Sala del Gran Consiglio at the Palace, in Valletta.
Vittoriosa beckons on this momentous day and, as one trudges slowly along the historic square down to the impressive parvis to the former conventual church, where the Te Deum of victory was sung among cries of deliverance, one may whisper a prayer by poet John Milton: “Bless, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints whose poor bones are scattered on the parvis cold.”
The mediaeval watch tower in ruins, with the defiant Great Siege monument in the foreground.