The statue of the Crucifixion, also known as Il-Vara l-Kbira (The big statue) that was supposedly allowed to pass through Marina Gate. (Courtesy of Lawrence Parascandolo)

During the Knights’ period the Marina Grande, as the Vittoriosa Waterfront was known then, offered spectacular episodes connected with the city’s maritime and ecclesiastical history, such as the colourful Good Friday procession along the waterfront flanked by elegant palaces on one side and stately galleys lining the quay. It was from these galleys that the baptised slaves marching in twos, tied to heavy chains, participated in these devotional processions.

Hardened criminals called forzati condemned to wear hefty chains fastened to their heels were selected to carry the statuary group of the Crucifixion (Il-Vara l-Kbira – The big statue) dragging these cumbersome chains. The present practice of penitents wearing chains, in various penitentiary processions, owes its origins to the early Vittoriosa procession.

It is also recorded that as from 1635, on the Wednesday of Holy Week, another procession known as La Processione Nera (The black procession) was organised by the Carmelite church located on the Marina, with all participants wearing black. The Marina also witnessed scenes of great pageants when specially decorated ceremonial boats carried a new Grand Master immediately after his election in Valletta to Vittoriosa in order to take his solemn oath in the erstwhile conventual church of San Lorenzo-a-Mare, as well as to pay homage to the brave heroes who died in the Great Siege of 1565.

The once elegant marina, with its palatial edifices, gradually had to give way to the exigencies of the British Navy, and every ruse was made to curtail and finally abolish religious processions on the marina

The recent presence of Venetian investment on the Vittoriosa Marina recalls the connection of these two maritime cities – it is indeed a powerful but neglected tradition that now calls for a vigorous revival. Apart from galleys from western Mediterranean ports, evidence of trade between Vittoriosa and Dubrovnic was recently unearthed, giving details of galleys repairing at the arsenale, which at that time was considered one of the finest in the Mediterranean.

In September 1800, Napoleon, who had captured Malta two years previously, capitulated to the British, who in answer to a call for help by Maltese insurgents, had enforced a naval blockade on the Grand Harbour. The British had originally come with the declared intention of protecting the rights of the King of the Two Sicilies over the Maltese islands. However, as they gradually realised the strategic importance of Malta they turned the island into a de facto Crown Colony.

Their legal right to Malta was sanctioned by the Treaty of Paris of May 1814, which solemnly declared that “the island of Malta and its dependencies shall belong in full sovereignty to His Britannic Majesty”; thus, the strongest maritime nation with a vast overseas empire became the proud possessor of the best natural harbour in the Mediterranean, defended by massive fortifications designed by world-famous military engineers.

Vittoriosa inevitably became the focal point of the British naval base, which gradually extended from the Porto delle Galere to the neighbouring towns and beyond. The first major buildings in the early British period were the huge naval bakery on the Marina, which in 1992 was converted into Malta’s Maritime Museum, with an adjoining Victualling Yard; and the imposing Naval Hospital at Bighi in Kalkara.

The once elegant marina, with its palatial edifices, gradually had to give way to the exigencies of the British Navy, and every ruse was made to curtail and finally abolish religious processions on the marina. In order to build the bakery in 1842, catering for the ever-expanding Mediterranean fleet, the British demolished the ancient iconic galley arsenal, which according to secure records was already fully active in the 13th century.

The well-known British engineer, William Scamp, was commissioned to submit plans for the new bakery. This massive building made further inroads into the ‘right of passage’ of the processions through the Marina Grande, as a few years previously, the Slave Prison (known as Il Guva ) in inner St Lawrence Street (near the St Angelo stone bridge) had already been taken over from the civil government.

Access to the Marina from the Carmelite church area was also closed in order to build further amenities for the navy. However, once again, the parish was assured of its ‘right of passage’; in fact, when an ornamental gate was erected near the parish church, the Admiralty seemingly acknowledged the parish rights, insisting the gate should supposedly be built in such a way as to allow the largest statues to pass through.

The Admiralty’s real intentions were revealed a few years later when a verandah on double columns was built from the bakery to Caraffa Stores, ironically called the Grande Collonade. Fortunately, it was demolished in the early 1990s to expose the beautiful palatial splendour of the marina.

Prof. Dominic Fenech described the impact of the Vittoriosa Waterfront on the local people, in a description of the St Lawrence feast celebrations featured in Birgu – A Maltese Maritime City. He quotes a contemporary newspaper of 1827 showing the extent of the festivities.

These quasi-national celebrations were held not only on the Marina Grande at the Porto delle Galere, but also around the Vittoriosa promontory, involving the Royal Navy and the British Army stationed in Ricasoli, Cospicua and other localities in the vicinity of this ancient city.

One can therefore fully understand what the Marina Grande really meant to Vittoriosa residents, as well as their utter disdain when the parish devotional and penitential processions, among other festive manifestations, had to be curtailed and ultimately abolished from the marina because it became exclusively and arbitrarily Crown Property.

The 1827 newspaper description of the fest read:

“The church, forts, houses and shipping were brilliantly illuminated with variegated lamps, transparencies, with suitable devices: a very good display of fireworks; the Grand Harbour, Bighi Bay, Dockyard, Renella and Isola Creek were covered with the native boats and yachts, and one distinct batch of barges, launches, yawls, cutters, Dock Yard boats, deck punts, pontoons, pleasure boats, with bands from the different regiments, the latter being taken in tow by the former; tables groaning with every species of refreshments, the night was delightfully cool and the heavens bespangled with stars which were reflected by the sea, together with the lights from fifteen hundred boats, produced a blaze of splendour similar to what we read of the Venetian style, and extremely animating – catches, songs and glees in all languages, and instrumental music of the first description, rendered it altogether truly of the Arabian Night’s first order... there must have been 20,000 assembled...”.

When an ornamental gate was erected near the parish church, the Admiralty seemingly acknowledged the parish rights, insisting the gate should supposedly be built in such a way as to allow the largest statues to pass through

The complete closure of the marina in the middle of the 19th century, during the British period, was received with angry protests from the Vittoriosa parish. This had its effect on the Easter festivities when sturdy young men run for long stretches with the statue of the Risen Christ.

Traditionally the Risen Christ carried the flag of the Order, only to be replaced by a silver palm out of deference to the new powers, the British. The closure of the marina, compounded by sweet nostalgia for the glorious days of the Order, forced the parish to reintroduce once again the flag of the religion.

The Vittoriosa Marina has also left its indelible mark on Malta’s contemporary history. The Freedom Monument, meant to mark the departure of the last British contingent from Malta on March 31, 1979, was erected on this particular site in Vittoriosa because, in the words of then Prime Minister Dom Mintoff:

“Il-Birgu was chosen as the site of the Freedom Monument because it was the city which was occupied by foreign forces to turn the island into an abject island fortress until our times. It was also the city from which the last foreign contingent was made to depart by a four-year-old Republic of Malta, neutral and non-aligned after a long and arduous struggle.”

Along the years, the marina has been the prime choice of many foreign film directors, the latest being The Count of Monte Cristo. The thriving, elegant yacht marina with berthing facilities for super-yachts, as well as the seaside cafes lining the palatial promenade, with St Angelo as a backdrop, has made the Vittoriosa Waterfront the most prosperous and popular venue in the south of Malta.