On February 23, 1700, a young couple, Pierre and his wife Isabelle Casolan from Marseilles, barely 30 years old, were sailing back to the capital of Provence with their toddler sons, four-year old Simon and three-year-old Donatien.
During that particular year at the turn of the 18th century under the Knights of St John, at least another 72 vessels made their way to Marseilles from Valletta. They not only carried an array of sailors and crew but also an assortment of Maltese merchants like Carlo Bonnici from Senglea and Domenico Borg from Cospicua, besides several nobili signori cavalieri and religious persons including the Carmelite Pietro Anselmo Olivier.
In that year alone, shipping records at our National Archives register the movements of at least 300 persons, departing to Marseilles on this most frequented trade route of the time. Travel was properly supervised, with voyagers having acquired their documents, providing each of them with a clean bill of health and conduct, with a few also carrying recommendations to deal with some business in the south of France. Besides civilian sea craft, hundreds of war vessels were continuously criss-crossing the western side of the Mediterranean, bringing in nautical know-how and war paraphernalia from Marseilles or Toulon to the Order in Valletta.
Apart from countless archives of maritime connections – including lists of young French men wanting to marry Maltese lasses, many surviving in local surnames – between Malta and Marseilles, little evidence remains on the island today to remind us of the Frenchified way in which the Maltese capital city was so close to this thriving port of Provence.
Perhaps the stupendous exception is the prominent Auberge de Provence itself, the only auberge on the main road of Valletta, today housing the Archaeological Museum. It managed to survive wars and colonisation, unlike its sister building the Auberge of Auvergne which was replaced by the Courts of Justice after WWII. One could note that after the Great Siege the Knights had built their seven langue palaces on the new capital hill favouring the northern winds, not only to refresh the summer hot months but also to avoid overlooking the boisterous harbour to the south.
The first langue to be instituted by the Order of St John in medieval times, Provence perchance today remains the only auberge right in the heart of Valletta, reflecting the important role this French region had under the Order with the majority of knights coming from France. Unfortunately this contrasts conspicuously with the lack of consideration the organisers of the current exhibition, called One Hundred Objects, gave to Marseilles – lying 622 nautical miles from Valletta – in the eight salient destinations of Malta’s history featured at its entrance, when the selected exhibits are being hosted in the very same Auberge de Provence.
Malta’s relations with Marseilles nevertheless are not only steeped deep in maritime history, having also shared most of their experiences in antiquity. Four decades ago Malta’s national airline included Marseilles among its very first air connections, still evidenced by the prominent place an early poster of this aerial bond enjoys in the Chamber of Commerce in Marseilles today.
Certainly the most recent sharing of common heritage – besides the large community of citizens having Maltese origins living in Provence – is the projected creation of the local MUZA inspired by MUCEM, Marseilles’ Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations, inaugurated last year on the occasion of Marseilles’ celebration as the European Capital City of Culture.
This grand project, situated on three sites, including Fort St Jean, offers an interactive facility that not only pleases the eye with artistic and cultural collections but also enables visitors to research the past using multimedia technology. Several initiatives launched in 2013 have served as a springboard for future projects. A quick visit to www.mucem.org serves as a guide of what one could do during 2014 to absorb all the invigorating knowledge amassed in this novel museum while touring this port city. Among current exhibitions one could browse through, there is Le Monde à l’Envers revealing a miscellany of European and Mediterranean Carnival traditions and masquerades open until August 25. A range of other manifestations have now developed into permanent presentations enhanced with various artistic performances all year round.
Still, Marseilles offers much more than this new cultural hub on the edge of the water of the Vieux Port. In my frequent visits over the past decades I could not help but compare its physical features, indeed its climate and the surrounding sea, to Malta. What we are trying to do in Vittoriosa – and have successfully done at the Valletta Waterfront – has been booming in Marseilles. It is not only a question of upgrading the historic buildings and putting them to good and modern use, but also adopting their facilities to accommodate the new areas determined by the spaces in between.
To further explain my impressions, seeing continuous development year in year out, the old parts of the city by the sea – with frequent flights of steps like Cottonera – seems to have merged beautifully with a modern ambiance. To understand this better I would say they succeeded to merge our modern Sliema – minus its gelid apartment boxes – with Vittoriosa without allowing one to disturb the other.