How many times have you walked across the bridge to Mdina and roamed around its quaint, narrow streets? Probably, too often to count. But have you ever noticed the openings of the Bronze Age grain silos in the fortifications? Or the peeping windows of St Peter’s monastery? Or the old stone calendar on the facade of St Paul’s Cathedral?

The calendar on the facade of the Mdina Cathedral. The letters refer to the months’ names in Italian.

It takes an eye for detail and love of history such as that of photographer and book designer Daniel Cilia to note such trivia. 

Mr Cilia has recently delivered a lecture titled Curiosities of Mdina at Palazzo Falson in Mdina, where he shared his knowledge and insights on lesser known aspects of the Silent City, together with many historical facts and some legends.

In a career spanning 35 years, Mr Cilia has made a few thousand photos of the city (he prefers to use the verb ‘make’ as taking for him means simply pressing the camera button without much consideration of creating something). 

“All of Malta and Gozo’s history and prehistory intrigues me. Mdina is, however, special because it has so many layers of history,” he said.

During the lectures, he unravelled these layers, from the Bronze Age to the Great Siege to more modern times, mentioning, among others, how the city’s boundaries were moved over the centuries and highlighting some of the invaders and grand masters who left their mark.

Mr Cilia also revealed a number of ‘personal’ discoveries, with his most cherished one being that of a Punic ‘goddess’.

“A local coralline limestone Punic life-size statue of Astarte, later called Juno in the Roman period, was placed exactly at the entrance of Mdina’s gate. Children and people entering the city spat on it since it represented a fake god,” he explained, adding that the spit eventually turned the statue into a dark colour and locals started calling it “is-samra”.

The hole in the Archbishop’s Palace overlooking the Mdina Cathedral.

During Grand Master’s Manuel de Vilhena (1722-1736) rebuilding of Mdina’s main entrance in 1724, a niche was created in the side of the gate so that the statue remained at the city gate as it had been for many centuries. In 1890, archaeologist and author Antonio Annetto Caruana asked and got approval (in two days) to remove the Punic statue and place it within the just-opened Roman Villa Museum, where it still can be seen today.

“The niche at the Mdina entrance was closed up and the story of the statue was completely forgotten,” noted Mr Cilia. 

“It was thought that the niche in the gate ‒ recognisable from the different-coloured stones – was a tunnel that had been closed up in the past. During the restoration of the gate some years ago, the stones were removed and replaced with newer stones and there was no tunnel to be found,” he continued.

Mdina has so many layers of history

Other curiosities Mr Cilia touched upon include a muxrabija in Mesquita square, from which one can look down or sideways through slits in the window frame without being seen; a hole in St Paul’s Cathedral’s wall from which the archbishop could follow Mass from his Palace; and some tiny rooms outside Rabat and even in the Mdina ditch which were actually tunnel air vents built for the Malta Railway. Nuns at St Peter’s Monastery would look furtively down through peeping windows to see the goings-on in Villegaignon street, Mdina’s main thoroughfare.

But who was Villegaignon? Mr Cilia had the answer, of course. His full name was Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon and was the nephew of Grand Master L’Isle Adam. The soldier, scientist and explorer fought in numerous campaigns against the Ottoman Empire in the Mediterranean and Scotland and his troops occupied an island in a bay in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which is named after him.

Mr Cilia also presented a photo of the Victory niche in Saqqajja Hill which has been almost completely shrouded by a prickly pear tree. This niche marks the spot where the Ottoman invaders historically stopped during their march towards Mdina during the Great Siege. Legend has it that ants attacked the invaders while they were camping there at night and thus abandoned their mission.

The photographer attributes his interest in history to his father who was a primary school teacher in Victoria and to numerous school visits.

The peeping windows on top of St Peter's Monastery in Villegaignon Street.

“The school used to take us to Malta’s and Gozo’s museums and historical sites. Since my father took all the classes not just his, I used to join him − anything to leave school − to visit the sites again and again,” he quipped.

He learnt more about our prehistory and history during his career as he worked with various authors on a number of historical books on Malta and Mdina. These include Marquis Nicholas de Piro, Fr Ġwann Azzopardi, professors Anthony Bonanno and Conrad Thake, Charles Dalli and Vincent Zammit.

From the feedback he received after the presentation, Mr Cilia is tinkering with the idea of writing a book about his ‘discoveries’, with the aim of raising more awareness about our history.

“I believe that history and culture are very important to the Maltese and it would be a huge mistake not to give them the proper significance,” remarked Mr Cilia.

“If children are lucky enough like I was to learn to appreciate and value all of that which makes us Maltese from an early age, they will instinctively care for our past and make sure that all that has to do with our history is kept in the best condition for themselves and future generations.”

The highlighted structure is an air vent which was built for the train tunnel under Mdina.

A statue of Astarte or Juno once stood at the entrance to Mdina. Today, the statue can be found at the Domus Romana.