Malta Photography - M1key - Michal Huniewicz
This is one amazing island. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean, Malta is a historian's paradise, as it blends multiple cultures to produce something truly unique. Let's begin our tour.
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Uploaded on: 2019-08-22.
Welcome to Malta
Roman
The island has been contested by many powers, including the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, Romans, Greeks, Arabs, Normans, Aragonese, Knights Hospitallers (aka Order of Saint John), French, and British.
ISO 100, 24mm, f/4.5, 1/200s.
The Silent City
The Silent City (or Mdina) may silent now, but it used to be the island's capital from antiquity to the medieval period. [2]
ISO 100, 24mm, f/7.1, 1/500s.
Mdina
Door Knocker
"Mdina still has features typical of a medina, a legacy of the period of Arab rule." [2]
ISO 100, 24mm, f/3.5, 1/50s.
Under the Lantern
It is Catholicism that is the official religion of Malta now, though.
ISO 180, 24mm, f/3.5, 1/50s.
Triq Mesquita
"Maltese language is descended from Siculo-Arabic, the extinct variety of Arabic that developed in Sicily and was later introduced to Malta, between the end of the ninth century and the end of the twelfth century." [3]
ISO 100, 38mm, f/3.5, 1/250s.
Alley
The city withstood a siege by Hafsid invaders in 1429 - a Sunni Muslim dynasty of Berber descent who ruled Ifriqiya (western Libya, Tunisia, and eastern Algeria) from 1229 to 1574. [4]
ISO 100, 70mm, f/3.5, 1/640s.
Clear for Take Off!
Jinny making sure my drone can safely take off...
ISO 100, 48mm, f/3.5, 1/1250s.
St Paul's Cathedral, Mdina
According to Early Modern interpretation the Acts of the Apostles, Paul the Apostle was shipwrecked on Malta in 60 AD.
ISO 100, 4mm, f/2.6, 1/1250s.
Star Fort
St. Paul's cathedral was founded in the 12th century, and according to tradition it stands on the site of where Roman governor Publius met St. Paul following his shipwreck on Malta. [5]
ISO 100, 4mm, f/2.6, 1/240s.
Maltese Landscape
Carriage
The Cathedral
The Arabs looted the island's churches, and the cathedral fell into disrepair.
ISO 100, 24mm, f/3.5, 1/4000s.
Maltese Skies
The cathedral is built in the Baroque style, with some influences from native Maltese architecture.
ISO 100, 35mm, f/3.5, 1/3200s.
Tourists
From Above
Mdina is actually a fortified city, a star fort changed over the years. [6]
ISO 100, 4mm, f/2.6, 1/100s.
Craftsmen's Corner
This is the town of Rabat - name of the town is derived from the Arabic word for 'suburb': الرباط, as it was the suburb of the old capital Mdina. [7]
ISO 100, 24mm, f/4.0, 1/320s.
Parish Church of St Paul & Grotto Of St Paul
This church is built on part of the site of the Roman city Melite, which included all of Mdina and a large part of present-day Rabat.
ISO 100, 24mm, f/5.6, 1/500s.
Bell Tower
Rabat is home to the famous Catacombs of St. Paul and of St. Agatha. Photography there is not allowed.
ISO 100, 55mm, f/5.6, 1/400s.
Church from Above
The low quality sensor of my drone is quite obvious...
ISO 100, 4mm, f/2.6, 1/200s.
Statue
Evening in Mdina
Some years after the Arab conquest, the Normans attacked Malta in 1091, as part of their conquest of Sicily. They were welcomed by the Christians.
ISO 2200, 44mm, f/2.8, 1/50s.
Phone Booth
Many centuries later, the French took over under Napoleon, for Malta to become part of the British Empire, a valuable asset from a naval point of view.
ISO 9000, 24mm, f/2.8, 1/50s.
Maltese Wine
Malta produces its own wine, and it was delicious. Here, Gellewza.
ISO 500, 36mm, f/2.8, 1/50s.
Levels
I found it really cool that the city of Valletta seemed to exist on multiple levels.
ISO 100, 70mm, f/13.0, 1/125s.
Walls
While the island was ruled by the Knights Hospitaller, the Ottomans decided to expand further west. The Ottoman Empire was thought to be invincible.
ISO 100, 24mm, f/13.0, 1/200s.
Cannon
In 1565, the Ottomans attacked, massively outnumbering the defenders, in what became known as the Great Siege of Malta. [9]
ISO 100, 28mm, f/8.0, 1/400s.
Narrow Street
Despite heavy casualties, the Knights and the Maltese persevered, and repelled the Ottomans.
ISO 100, 48mm, f/8.0, 1/320s.
European Flag
What followed a couple of years was the naval Battle of Lepanto. "The defeat at Lepanto further exemplified the rapid deterioration of Ottoman might under Selim II, and Christians rejoiced at this setback for the Ottomans." [10]
ISO 100, 70mm, f/2.8, 1/2500s.
Saint John's Co-Cathedral
Scythe
Long Neck
Restoration
Precise
Skull
Grand Harbour
Valletta
Red
Caravaggio
The Beheading of St John the Baptist by Caravaggio uses chiaroscuro. The artist himself spent some time on the island.
ISO 2500, 24mm, f/2.8, 1/50s.
The National Library of Malta
The National Library of Malta was founded by the Grand Master of Knights Hospitalliers, Emmanuel de Rohan-Polduc, in 1776 out of the collections of the knight Louis Guérin de Tencin. [11]
ISO 1400, 24mm, f/2.8, 1/50s.
Ablaq
Casa Rocca Piccola is a 16th-century palace in Malta, and home of the noble maltese family de Piro. [12]
ISO 1250, 24mm, f/4.0, 1/50s.
Writing Desk
The house was built in the 16th century, after the Turks wer repelled.
ISO 100, 24mm, f/4.0, 1/80s.
Łańcut
The house has over fifty rooms, including two libraries, two dining rooms, many drawing rooms, and a chapel. I found this book on a Polish castle, too.
ISO 5000, 24mm, f/4.0, 1/50s.
Sofa
3D
Cutlery
Downstairs
This is one of the few houses in Valletta to have a garden. Here, stairs take us down to an air raid shelter.
ISO 100, 24mm, f/4.0, 1/125s.
Bunker
Parrot
Ħaġar Qim
Ħaġar Qim (meaning Standing/Worshipping Stones) is a megalithic temple complex, dating from 3600-3200 BC. [13]
ISO 100, 24mm, f/4.0, 1/80s.
Corpulent
The so called fat lady is a common feature of ancient Maltese culture, but its meaning (or even gender!) is uncertain. [14]
ISO 140, 28mm, f/3.2, 1/50s.
New Holland
Birgu
Birgu served as the base of the Order of Saint John and de facto capital city of Malta from 1530 to 1571. Its population has more than halved in the last 100 years. [15]
ISO 1400, 24mm, f/2.8, 1/50s.
Dusk
When they arrived in 1530, they decided to make Birgu the capital city of Malta, since the former capital, Mdina, was inland and did not suit their naval requirements.
ISO 1000, 24mm, f/2.8, 1/50s.
Parade!
Purple
Women
Puffy
Bare Feet
Altar
We Depart
Ferry
On the ferry, there was a Polish couple. The woman was afraid to go to the toilet on her own, and asked her partner to stand outside the toilet to guard it - which he found ridiculous. While she was inside, he was making funny noises, knocking on the door, and telling her to hurry up. She was furious.
ISO 100, 24mm, f/9.0, 1/400s.
Dusty
The island of Gozo has long been associated with Ogygia, the island home of the nymph Calypso in Homer's Odyssey. [16]
ISO 100, 24mm, f/6.3, 1/100s.
Asleep
Claustrophobic
Look Inside
Relics
Cittadella
This is the Cittadella, the site it now occupiees is believed to have been the acropolis of the Punic-Roman city of Gaulos or Glauconis Civitas. [17]
ISO 100, 45mm, f/2.8, 1/5000s.
Churches
Compared to the Island of Malta, Gozo is more rural and known for its scenic hills.
ISO 100, 42mm, f/2.8, 1/5000s.
Cathedral of the Assumption
As impressive as its walls seem, the castle's defences were obsolete by the 16th century, and in 1551 an Ottoman force invaded Gozo and sacked the Cittadella.
ISO 100, 24mm, f/4.5, 1/3200s.
Arch
Stairs
As it often happens, the cathedral has replaced an earlier, Roman temple of Juno. [18]
ISO 100, 38mm, f/5.0, 1/1000s.
Restored
The Order of St. John was in a state of perpetual war against the Ottoman Empire, which had expelled it from its previous base at Rhodes in 1522. After the Great Siege of Malta, the Cittadella was undamaged but obsolete, so it was modernised, and turned into a star fort.
ISO 100, 44mm, f/8.0, 1/640s.
Entrance
Candles
Ciborium
A canopy or covering supported by columns, freestanding in the sanctuary, that stands over and covers the altar in a basilica or other church - is known as ciborium. [19]
ISO 4500, 14mm, f/2.8, 1/50s.
Another Skull
The Ġgantija temples are older than the pyramids of Egypt. Their makers erected the two Ġgantija temples during the Neolithic (c. 3600–2500 BC), which makes these temples more than 5500 years old and the world's second oldest existing manmade religious structures after Göbekli Tepe in present-day Turkey. [20]
ISO 200, 24mm, f/2.8, 1/50s.
Ġgantija
The temples are elements of a ceremonial site in a fertility rite. Researchers have found that the numerous figurines and statues found on site are associated with that cult. According to local Gozitan folklore, a giantess who ate nothing but broad beans and honey bore a child from a man of the common people. With the child hanging from her shoulder, she built these temples and used them as places of worship. [20]
ISO 100, 24mm, f/2.8, 1/2000s.
Wall
Lourdes Chapel
"A church was founded here, on the second largest island of the Maltese archipelago, after the rock formation just below it was seen to resemble that at Lourdes." [21]
ISO 100, 24mm, f/5.6, 1/125s.
Mġarr
Oh, Spark
I wanted a shot of the church and the harbour, but my drone's range wasn't sufficient.
ISO 100, 4mm, f/2.6, 1/640s.
Ferry Back
Hotel View
This was our hotel view. The construction site excavations looked impressive.
ISO 100, 14mm, f/8.0, 1/125s.
Palazzo Villa Rosa
I believe this property is for rental if you like to party with style.
ISO 100, 24mm, f/8.0, 1/320s.
St. George's Bay
One final glance of Malta before it's time to return home.
ISO 100, 24mm, f/8.0, 1/400s.