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Gozitan NGO Wirt Għawdex recently published its sixth book in the series of guide books on historical sites in Gozo, A Brief Guide to the Old Gunpowder Magazine, Grain Silos, Battery and World War Two Shelter at the Gran Castello, Victoria – Gozo.
In this publication, the author gives a short history of the Gran Castello – more popularly known with the inhabitants as Cittadella (The Citadel), perched on the hill in the centre of Malta’s largest sister island, Gozo – and its architectural attractions.
He states that this fortress “played a leading act in the island’s affairs from at least the mid-second millennium BC” and went on helping in the defence of the inhabitants until it was decommissioned by the War Department, under British rule, in 1868.
A breathtaking, colourful, aerial, panoramic photo of the dominating bastions, with the Gozo Cathedral, some historical buildings and old houses in ruins within, spreads over the early pages.
The Old Gunpowder Magazine – in Maltese Il-Polvrista – is a chapter dedicated to this site, one of four within the walls of the Castello being taken care of and offered for viewing, whoever is interested by Wirt Għawdex.
In this short chapter, Vella writes about the relative importance this magazine had, in the past, with the defence principal gun platforms, i.e. bastions, demi-bastions, cavaliers, a redoubt and a battery. A colourful digital design of cavalier and demi-bastion guides the reader to the different posts, with a legend which helps one understand the raison d’etre of this part of the citadel.
Another site controlled by Wirt Għawdex within the walls of the ‘small city’, is that with the enormous grain silos erected on the site of the late medieval Hebrew ghetto, next to cavalier.
Together they could hold about 100 cubic metres of grain, from which bread the inhabitants’ staple diet could be made. In this chapter, Vella gives details about the silos and their importance in the daily life of the Gozitans. Until very recently, before being handed over to Wirt Għawdex, the silos were managed by the Water Services Corporation and used as water reservoirs.
The last attractions about which Vella writes , which are also being managed by Wirt Għawdex, are the World War II shelter and the battery, which are also found in the Citadel.
A wintry panoramic photograph of the northern part of Gozo, together with a legend of the hills, valleys and inhabited places, is spread on pages 28 and 29; this is a scene which may be enjoyed from the northern bastions.
Vella concludes his researched study with a short overview of Victoria’s historic core and beyond.
The publication – which was sponsored by two members of the NGO who chose to remain unanimous – has an introduction penned by Wirt Għawdex president Franco Masini.
The text is by Godwin Vella, who graduated BA (Hons) in Archaeology in 1995 and MA in Business Administration with a focus on Heritage Interpretation in 2002, with the University of Malta.
Vella, former secretary of Wirt Għawdex, served on a number of government-appointed boards and committees in the heritage sector and authored several essays on Gozo’s cultural patrimony.
He also managed Heritage Malta’s Gozo area office and is currently head of the Ethnography Unit within the same national agency.
This book, designed and illustrated with beautiful photography by Daniel Cilia, is on sale for €5.
Orders can be made by sending a cheque payable to Wirt Għawdex to Giovanni Zammit, Wirt Għawdex executive secretary, Dar il-Lunzjata, Wied il-Lunzjata, Victoria. The book will be sent by post within a week.