Seven fun details you may not have noticed in Malta

Malta’s history is overwhelmingly rich and easily monopolises the interest of the visitors, pushing to the fridges of attention several details that are unique on the island. However, it is these small features that ultimately determine the character of the specific Mediterranean archipelago and missing them means that one has not experienced Malta to the fullest.

So, here seven fun facts you may not have noticed:

The two clocks on the church walls

 

Many churches host on their walls two clocks which, as one discovers when looking closely, are not synchronised. This is not by mistake or lack of proper maintenance. On the contrary, it is by design as, according to tradition, the right clock tells the correct time for the pious residents of the town, while the left one offers misleading information to confuse the Satan and mess his mischievous plans.

The metallic doors in front of the main entrances of the houses

 

The famous Maltese balconies are the most prominent characteristic of the houses on the island, having turned into a national symbol – though they are an evolution of the Arabic “mushrabiya”: a centuries-old type of window through which the women of the Muslim world could observe the events in the streets while remaining hidden from the public eye.

 

However, few notice the small, metallic doors that adorn the entrances of many houses. They look decorative – and, indeed, today, they are purely so. In the past, though, and until the 1950s, they were used to keep the goats out of the houses. In those days, milk was sold door-to-door, fresh, directly from the animal to consumption – until a disease spread out, forcing the (then, British) administration to forbid the practice and introduce the pasteurised milk.

 

Sometimes, there is also a piece of plastic spreading behind these metallic doors, totally ruining the façade of the building. It is meant to keep the rain out of the house, especially since there are no gutters and, when it pours, the streets turn into small rivers.

Fish knockers

 

The traditional door knocker, found in many old houses, is a bronze fish. It often looks like a dolphin, but it can be any kind of fish that is beautifully represented in metal. Apparently, this echoes another Arab tradition: the hanging a fish outside a house as a good-luck symbol, especially after a wedding or the birth of a child.

Patterned tile floors

 

If you enter an old house-museum or homes that have been turned into boutique stores, you will be able to admire the patterned tiled floors that represent another traditional decorative characteristic in Malta. Each tile is hand-made, the profession, unfortunately, dying today as only a handful of people practice the art. Such tiles are a heritage dating to the Ottoman empire. Hence, they can be found in the countries that were directly influenced by the Ottomans (like Greece or Lebanon), though they also spread in many European countries during a wave of Orientalism. Malta was never conquered by the Ottomans, but the tiled floors reached the local architecture, possibly, through Spain.

Fossil-covered pavements

 

Most of the slabs used in the pavements and pedestrian roads in Malta are graced with fluid designs that seem to eternally swim within the stone. They are fossil urchins, and other skeletal remains such as shells and shell fragments, dead fish and plant detritus, hidden over millennia within the limestone of the island, resurfacing now to the amazement of every observant passerby. I do not think there is any other country where one walks almost all the time stepping on fossils!

The Maltese archipelago is a lime-rich formation in the middle of the Mediterranean, mainly consisting of two types of limestone: globigerina and coralline. The first one, softer, is used to this day for most constructions, while the second harder one, is destined for structures of higher importance. Their creation dates to 34 million years ago, and amidst their layers of sand, the remains of countless micro-organisms and small sea animals were trapped, turning into the fossils that are visible in the slabs today.

The Maltese word for “God.”

Given the strongly Christian character of the island, the unquestionable influence of the European civilisation, and the Latin elements that have found their way into the Maltese language, I was surprised to learn that the word for “God” has remained “Alla”, echoing the Arabic “Allah”. I thought this was perhaps the most incredible remnant of the Arabic occupation, surviving to our days despite the influence of the Christian forces dominating the island ever since.

The Maltese gilded wall clock

 

The Maltese gilded clock dates to the 17th century and can be found in most aristocratic houses of the island (some of which have turned into museums). It is locally known as “l-Arloġġ tal-Lira” which has often been mistaken to translate into “the one-pound clock”. However, given the actual cost of such an ornament, the word is possibly a local paraphrasing of the orologio a lira that was similarly popular in Europe at the time (though different than the Maltese clock).

Besides its decorative value, the most exciting feature of such clocks is that they turned the case designers (who were different than the creators of the clock mechanism) into priceless artisans, though they have all remained anonymous as opposed to the actual clockmakers. Although today such clocks are not limited to the upper social class, they are still considered a valuable possession and maintain a flair of bygone times.

 

Photo credits: © Konstantina Sakellariou.

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