Unfortunately, there are still stubborn cynics around who erroneously believe that the Great Siege was an inflated event consisting of a normal piratical incursion or a brief skirmish.

The fail to acknowledge that a great Turkish armada consisting of over 30,000 select troops from the mighty Turkish empire was dispatched to Malta with specific orders “to wipe out completely from the Mediterranean that nest of vipers”.

English historian Roger Crowley, in his seminal book Empires of the sea, relates the epic siege in a rousing account of the hair-raising, savage events, recently earning his publication the coveted title of the Daily Telegraph’s Book of the Year.

Two hundred years after the Great Siege, French philosopher Voltaire could proclaim that nothing was better known than the Siege of Malta.

Recent blockbusters, like Tim Willocks’ The religion and David Ball’s The sword and the scimitar, together with Crowley’s historical account indicate most positively that the memory ofthe siege lingers on even after 450 years.

In the light of the above, may I urge the National Museum in Valletta to give more exposure to the impressive siege maps that were issued during the Great Siege in many major cities of Europe like Venice, Rome, Paris and Nuremberg.

Thanks to the initiative of Albert Ganado, these treasured siege maps still survive.

They are a clear indication that Christian Europe was following with bated breath the ebb and flow of the siege from these images in the form of a gazette.

May I suggest that an exhibition of these historic maps be held at the Byzantine chapel on the Vittoriosa church parvis where Gran Master Jean de Valette’s sword offered to our Lady of Damascus still draws the crowds.

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