Gozo: Malta's second great island

 Gozo is a Mediterranean Sea island, in Malta’s Archipelago. Gozo is Malta’s second-largest island (67 sq ks) with a small population: 37,000. I loved the main island but I needed more days for Gozo.

The Temple Period (4100-2500 BC) was key in Malta’s cultural evolution. The greatest success then was the Temple of Ggantija (3600-3000 BC), a very old free-standing site. The temples were named from the Maltese term for giant, due to the size of these megaliths with notable corner stones and a huge back temple wall. In one apse a circular stone chimney with a small enclosure was where religious events were held. But how were the giant stones extracted, carried and raised?

The Temple

Bronze Age (2500-700 BC) was a key part of the society’s evolution. The new inhabitants were warriors who used copper & bronze tools and weapons. The most exciting relics were found on Tacenc plateau where the 3 mega-lithic stone burials have a slab of limestone, supported by stone blocks.

Phoenicians and Carthaginians (700-218 BC) established a colony on Malta and Gozo, attracted by local ports. The Phoenicians of Carthage took control of Malta and the Carthaginians kept the islands under their power until 218 BC. Near the village of Santa Lucija, there are remains of a Punic rock sanctuary on the SW tip of Gozo.

When 2nd Punic War started (218 BC), the Romans beat the Carthagenians and created a municipality in Gozo, with an autonomous republican government. Thus Christianity arose there for the first time. It is notable that St Paul the Apostle was shipwrecked in Malta while going to Rome in 60AD

It ended in 535 when the Byzantine era in Gozo (535-870) meant the islands passed to the dominion of the Eastern Roman Empire. Arabian Arabs settled in Malta in 870, and the Punic dialect that had originated with the Phoenicians changed eg Arabic influence (870-1127) is seen in many place names and surnames of Gozo’s population. The Arabs were expelled from the islands thanks to Count Roger Norman.

map of Italy, Sicily and the Maltese Archipelago

In 1127, the Normans took over until 1530, thus both Gozo and Malta passed under the governments of Swabia (1194), Angou (1266) and Aragon (1282). A feudal regime began in which the citizens were required to pay large taxes. In 1397 the Gozitanos created a group to defend local interests, fighting to maintain their old privileges and freedom.

For centuries, Malta and Gozo remained under European control. In Mar 1530, the islands passed to the rule of the religious order, Knights of St John of Jerusalem. The island suffered the worst siege, when the citadel was besieged by the Turks of Sinan Pasha in 1551. The medieval walls, without embankments to resist gunpowder attacks, meant the defences succumbed. A tombstone in the cathedral recalls that horror in the commemoration of Bernardo Dupuo, who had to kill his family to save them from slavery and prostitution, and who died fighting the Turkish pirates. The population was taken into slavery in 1798.

Napoleon Bonaparte ruled the French and ousted the Knights from Malta. The French rule was very short-lived (1798-1800), when the locals with British support rose against the French. Malta became a British crown colony in 1880 (until 1964), and the island’s resistance to bombardments from the Axis powers in WW2 were legendary.

See local folklore during the festivals. Since 1530 the Ash Wednesday Carnival in Feb was first celebrated under Aragonese rule, and is still growing. In these 5 days there are colourful float parades, exotic masks and dance groups through the city streets. And in Nadur and Xewkija villages, a carnival after sunset is for people walk in costumes.

Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday week, Holy Week, is full of religious and folkloric shows. On Good Friday a procession through the streets shows the moments of the passion and death of Christ. Hooded men dragged heavy iron chains tied to their ankles or carried a heavy cross. Note the Roman legion showing its armour, spears and shields, along with trumpets and drums. And a procession with the Risen Christ statue on Easter morning.

Xlendi Bay

                                                                                                  

Feasts honoured  each village’s patron saint. Mnarja Agrarian Event is in June as the festival dedicated to Sts Peter and Paul. Gozitanos ate rabbit fried in garlic with wine, while playing the guitarist around bonfires. Now Nadur’s main event is an agricultural exhibition of local products and livestock. In mid-Aug a large Agricultural and Industrial Exhibition is held at Victoria’s public gardens, inspired by the 1851 Great Exhibition London. There Gozo’s farmers show their best farm products and Malta’s President awards the prizes.  

 is more tranquil than Malta Island, giving Gozitans a very relaxed lifestyle and the main sandy beach, Ramla-Red Beach, has fine bathing. There are secluded bays and coves to be explored whilst all the waters around the island have diving and boating. The main coastal resorts of Xlendi & Marsalforn have gorgeous bistros at the water’s edge.

Victoria, called Rabat Gozo by locals to separate it from Rabat on Malta Island, is Gozo’s most populous city: 7,000. The area round town, on a hill in the centre of Gozo, has been settled for centuries. Victoria was the name given in June 1887 by the British government to honour Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee, requested by the Bishop of Gozo.

Cittadella

Cittadella, in the capital Victoria, has been the centre of activity in Gozo, first fortified in the Bronze Age c1500 BC. It was later developed by the Phoenicians and became a complex Acropolis by Roman times. The superb Norman Cittadella includes Cathedral of the Assumption; Gozo Museum of Archaeology; Gran Castello Historic House-Folklore Museum; Natural Science Museum; and Old Prison. The acropolis was converted into a medieval castle as the town grew outside the Cittadella walls. Overlooking Victoria, it was rebuilt by the Knights of St John after Ottomans invaded in 1551. The massive stone walls rose to protect the locals from Moslems fighting Christendom.

Inside the walls is a fine C17th baroque Cathedral of the Assumption designed by Lorenzo Gafà, Maltese architect who built Mdina’s Cathedral. Note the painting on its ceiling which depicts the intended interior of a dome. A statue of the Assumption of Mary (1897) was donated by the Leone Philharmonic Society and the statue was originally bought by the band from Rome from the Fabbrica di Statue Religiose of Francesco Rosa 1897. 

St George's Basilica

The other cathedral, St George's Basilica, built in 1670s, suffered severe damage in the 1693 earth quake and had a new façade built in 1818. Only the dome and aisles are modern (1930s-40s). There are works of art by Rome’s Gian Battista Conti and by Mattia Preti. The wooden St George statue was carved by Pietro Azzopardi in 1838. The Cittadella was added to UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites in 1998.

In Feb 2013, the Basilica opened to its new modern, special museum. The Basilica Museum and Cultural Centre display a rich group of historical and art objects unviewable previously. In Villa Rundle Gardens, see a bronze bust of Gozitan C18th historian Canon Giovanni de Soldanis and a memorial to the Ottoman invasion of Gozo, 1551

Cathedral Museum

Malta and Gozo became  British Commonwealth state in Sept 1964, and a Republic in Dec 1974. The Gozo on/off ferry crossing takes 25 mins, leaving hourly.

Thanks to: Visit Gozo; History & Folklore of Gozo; and The Cultural Highlight of Gozo for images.