1.
Maltese language
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Maltese is descended from Siculo-Arabic, the 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. Maltese is a branch of Arabic because it has evolved independently of Literary Arabic into a standardized language over the past 800 years in a gradual process of Latinisation. About half of the vocabulary is derived from standard Italian and Sicilian, the original Semitic base comprises around one-third of the Maltese vocabulary, and typically includes words that denote basic ideas and the function words. Maltese has always written in the Latin script, the earliest surviving example dating from the late Middle Ages. The Norman conquest in 1090, followed by the expulsion of the Muslims permanently isolated the vernacular from its Arabic source, in contrast to Sicily, the vernacular in Malta continued to develop alongside Italian, eventually replacing it as official language in 1934. The first written reference to the Maltese language is in a will of 1436, the oldest known document in Maltese is Il Cantilena by Pietru Caxaro. It dates from the 15th century, the earliest known Maltese dictionary was a sixteenth-century manuscript entitled Maltese-Italiano, it was included in the Biblioteca Maltese of Mifsud in 1764, but is now lost. The first systematic lexicon is that of Giovanni Pietro Francesco Agius de Soldanis, Maltese became an official language of Malta in 1934, alongside English, when Italian was dropped from official use. In 1975, there were an estimated 371,000 Maltese speakers, today, the core vocabulary is Semitic, with large numbers of loanwords. Because of the Sicilian influence on Siculo Arabic, Maltese has many language contact features and is most commonly described as a language with a number of loanwords. Voiceless stops are only lightly aspirated and voiced stops are fully voiced, voicing is carried over from the last segment in obstruent clusters, thus, two- and three-obstruent clusters are either voiceless or voiced throughout, e. g. /niktbu/ is realised we write. Maltese has final-obstruent devoicing of voiced obstruents and voiceless stops have no audible release, gemination is distinctive word-medially and word-finally in Maltese. The distinction is most rigid intervocalically after a stressed vowel, some speakers have lost length distinction in clusters. The two nasals /m/ and /n/ assimilate for place of articulation in clusters, /t/ and /d/ are usually dental, whereas /t͡s d͡z s z n r l/ are all alveolar. /t͡s d͡z/ are found mostly in words of Italian origin, retaining length, /d͡z/ and /ʒ/ are only found in loanwords, e. g. /ɡad͡zd͡zɛtta/ newspaper and /tɛlɛˈviʒin/ television. The pharyngeal fricative /ħ/ is velar or glottal for some speakers, stress is generally on the penultimate syllable, unless some other syllable is heavy, or unless a stress-shifting suffix is added. When two syllables are heavy, the penultimate takes the stress, but otherwise the heavier syllable does. Many Classical Arabic consonants underwent mergers and modifications in Maltese, The modern system of Maltese orthography was introduced in 1924, the first edition of this book was printed in 1924 by the Maltese governments printing press
2.
Antonio Sciortino
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Antonio Sciortino was a Maltese sculptor whose work reflects several artistic movements, including Realism and Futurism, as well as the influence of Auguste Rodin. He studied and worked in Rome and he developed an original style which drew the admiration of many and brought him commissions in Russia, Brazil and the United States. Sciortino was a director of the British Academy of Arts in Rome, from childhood Sciortino showed a tendency towards sculpture, and his aunt Vittorine Sciortino encouranged him to follow this tendency. Encouragement also came from Lazzaro Pisani who was a painter in Malta. It was this encouragement which caused Sciortino to enroll in the School of Art in Valletta where he studied for two years, the Strickland family helped Sciortino to obtain a government grant attend a course in Rome, where at 22 he went to continue his studies in art. In Rome, he studied in the Istituto Reale di Belle Arti where for two years he studied engineering and monumental architecture, after earning a diploma with distinction, he opened an art studio in via Margutta 33 in the heart of the Roman artistic tradition. Here Sciortino decided to free himself from imitative tradition and develop a personal style, the Philosopher is a work of artistic study with which Sciortino established a reputation as an original artist and which drew the attention of many art critics. This sculpture, along with known as Testa di Vecchio were shown in an exhibition with the name Promotrice di Roma. With the statue Studio di Donna Sciortino withdrew from the habit of representing the female figure in the way inspired by the Greeks. In the same year Sciortino worked on Les Gavroches, a work continued to improve his reputation. This statue was brought to Malta in 1907 and is considered to be Sciortinos first masterpiece. The mould of the statue is found in Buckingham Palace. Asked how to say his name, he told The Literary Digest it was shore-TEA-no, ^ Among other works, he also accomplished the mural paintings in st Pauls church in Valletta. ^ Id be particularly interested in finding out what was the idea behind Sciortinos irredentismo, there is a paper on that, which I cannot get, E. Cozzani, I piu Giovani, in vita darte, II, vol. Antonio Sciortino,1879 –1947, Europrint,1997, cremona, G. Artisti Maltesi a Roma, in Malta,25 ta Settembru,1936. Http, //www. haz-zebbug. com/antonio_sciortino. php Sciortino at www. aboutmalta. com Three photographs of Sciortinos works
3.
Bronze
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These additions produce a range of alloys that may be harder than copper alone, or have other useful properties, such as stiffness, ductility, or machinability. The archeological period where bronze was the hardest metal in use is known as the Bronze Age. In the ancient Near East this began with the rise of Sumer in the 4th millennium BC, with India and China starting to use bronze around the same time, everywhere it gradually spread across regions. The Bronze Age was followed by the Iron Age starting from about 1300 BC and reaching most of Eurasia by about 500 BC, the discovery of bronze enabled people to create metal objects which were harder and more durable than previously possible. Bronze tools, weapons, armor, and building such as decorative tiles were harder and more durable than their stone. It was only later that tin was used, becoming the major ingredient of bronze in the late 3rd millennium BC. Tin bronze was superior to arsenic bronze in that the process could be more easily controlled. Also, unlike arsenic, metallic tin and fumes from tin refining are not toxic, the earliest tin-alloy bronze dates to 4500 BCE in a Vinča culture site in Pločnik. Other early examples date to the late 4th millennium BC in Africa, Susa and some ancient sites in China, Luristan, ores of copper and the far rarer tin are not often found together, so serious bronze work has always involved trade. Tin sources and trade in ancient times had a influence on the development of cultures. In Europe, a source of tin was the British deposits of ore in Cornwall. In many parts of the world, large hoards of bronze artefacts are found, suggesting that bronze also represented a store of value, in Europe, large hoards of bronze tools, typically socketed axes, are found, which mostly show no signs of wear. With Chinese ritual bronzes, which are documented in the inscriptions they carry and from other sources and these were made in enormous quantities for elite burials, and also used by the living for ritual offerings. Pure iron is soft, and the process of beating and folding sponge iron to wrought iron removes from the metal carbon. Careful control of the alloying and tempering eventually allowed for wrought iron with properties comparable to modern steel, Bronze was still used during the Iron Age, and has continued in use for many purposes to the modern day. Among other advantages, it does not rust, the weaker wrought iron was found to be sufficiently strong for many uses. Archaeologists suspect that a disruption of the tin trade precipitated the transition. The population migrations around 1200–1100 BC reduced the shipping of tin around the Mediterranean, limiting supplies, there are many different bronze alloys, but typically modern bronze is 88% copper and 12% tin
4.
Art movement
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Art movements were especially important in modern art, when each consecutive movement was considered as a new avant-garde. According to theories associated with modernism and the concept of postmodernism, the period of time called modern art is posited to have changed approximately halfway through the 20th century and art made afterward is generally called contemporary art. Postmodernism in visual art begins and functions as a parallel to late modernism, the postmodern period began during late modernism, and according to some theorists postmodernism ended in the 21st century. During the period of time corresponding to modern art each movement was often considered a new avant-garde. Also during the period of time referred to as modern art movement was seen corresponding to a somewhat grandiose rethinking of all that came before it. Generally there was a commonality of visual style linking the works, postmodernist theorists posit that the idea of art movements are no longer as applicable, or no longer as discernible, as the notion of art movements had been before the postmodern era. There are many theorists however who doubt as to whether or not such an era was actually a fact, the term refers to tendencies in visual art, novel ideas and architecture, and sometimes literature. In music it is common to speak about genres and styles instead. See also cultural movement, a term with a broader connotation, as the names of many art movements use the -ism suffix, they are sometimes referred to as isms. 20th-century Western painting Art periods List of art movements Post-expressionism Western art history the-artists. org Art movements since 1900, 20th-Century Art Compiled by Dr. Witcombe, Sweet Briar College, Virginia. WebMuseum, Paris Themes index and detailed glossary of art periods
5.
Neoclassicism
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The main Neoclassical movement coincided with the 18th-century Age of Enlightenment, and continued into the early 19th century, laterally competing with Romanticism. In architecture, the style continued throughout the 19th, 20th, European Neoclassicism in the visual arts began c.1760 in opposition to the then-dominant Baroque and Rococo styles. Each neo-classicism selects some models among the range of classics that are available to it. They ignored both Archaic Greek art and the works of Late Antiquity, the Rococo art of ancient Palmyra came as a revelation, through engravings in Woods The Ruins of Palmyra. While the movement is described as the opposed counterpart of Romanticism. The case of the main champion of late Neoclassicism, Ingres, demonstrates this especially well. The revival can be traced to the establishment of formal archaeology, the writings of Johann Joachim Winckelmann were important in shaping this movement in both architecture and the visual arts. With the advent of the Grand Tour, a fad of collecting antiquities began that laid the foundations of many great collections spreading a Neoclassical revival throughout Europe, Neoclassicism in each art implies a particular canon of a classical model. In English, the term Neoclassicism is used primarily of the arts, the similar movement in English literature. This, which had been dominant for decades, was beginning to decline by the time Neoclassicism in the visual arts became fashionable. Though terms differ, the situation in French literature was similar, in music, the period saw the rise of classical music, and Neoclassicism is used of 20th-century developments. Ingress coronation portrait of Napoleon even borrowed from Late Antique consular diptychs and their Carolingian revival, much Neoclassical painting is more classicizing in subject matter than in anything else. A fierce, but often very badly informed, dispute raged for decades over the merits of Greek and Roman art, with Winckelmann. The work of artists, who could not easily be described as insipid, combined aspects of Romanticism with a generally Neoclassical style. Unlike Carstens unrealized schemes, the etchings of Giovanni Battista Piranesi were numerous and profitable and his main subject matter was the buildings and ruins of Rome, and he was more stimulated by the ancient than the modern. Neoclassicism in painting gained a new sense of direction with the success of Jacques-Louis Davids Oath of the Horatii at the Paris Salon of 1785. Despite its evocation of republican virtues, this was a commission by the royal government, David managed to combine an idealist style with drama and forcefulness. David rapidly became the leader of French art, and after the French Revolution became a politician with control of government patronage in art
6.
Valletta
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Valletta is the capital city of Malta, colloquially known as Il-Belt in Maltese. The historical city has a population of 6,444, while the area around it has a population of 393,938. Valletta is the southernmost capital of Europe and the second southernmost capital of the European Union after Nicosia, Valletta contains buildings from the 16th century onwards, built during the rule of the Order of St. John also known as Knights Hospitaller. The City of Valletta was officially recognised as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1980, the official name given by the Order of Saint John was Humilissima Civitas Valletta—The Most Humble City of Valletta, or Città Umilissima in Italian. The building of a city on the Sciberras Peninsula, originally called Xaghriet Mewwija, had proposed by the Order of Saint John as early as 1524. Back then, the building on the peninsula was a small watchtower dedicated to Erasmus of Formia. In 1552, the watchtower was demolished and the larger Fort Saint Elmo was built in its place, in the Great Siege of 1565, Fort Saint Elmo fell to the Ottomans, but the Order eventually won the siege with the help of Sicilian reinforcements. The victorious Grand Master, Jean de Valette, immediately set out to build a new fortified city on the Sciberras Peninsula to fortify the Orders position in Malta, the city took his name and was called La Valletta. The Grand Master asked the European kings and princes for help, pope Pius V sent his military architect, Francesco Laparelli, to design the new city, while Philip II of Spain sent substantial monetary aid. The foundation stone of the city was laid by Grand Master de Valette on 28 March 1566 and he placed the first stone in what later became Our Lady of Victories Church. De Valette died from a stroke on 21 August 1568 at age 74, originally interred in the church of Our Lady of the Victories, his remains now rest in St. Johns Co-Cathedral among the tombs of other Grand Masters of the Knights of Malta. Francesco Laparelli was the principal designer and his plan departed from medieval Maltese architecture. He designed the new city on a grid plan. The streets were designed to be wide and straight, beginning centrally from the City Gate and ending at Fort Saint Elmo overlooking the Mediterranean and his assistant was the Maltese architect Girolamo Cassar, later oversaw the construction of the city himself after Laparellis death in 1570. The Ufficio delle Case regulated the building of the city as a planning authority, seven Auberges were built for the Orders Langues, and these were complete by the 1580s. An eighth Auberge, Auberge de Bavière, was added in the 18th century. During António Manoel de Vilhenas reign, a town began to form between the walls of Valletta and the Floriana Lines, and this evolved from a suburb of Valletta to Floriana, a town in its own right. In 1749, Muslim slaves plotted to kill Grandmaster Pinto and take over Valletta, in 1798, the Order left the islands and the French occupation of Malta began
7.
Malta
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Malta, officially known as the Republic of Malta, is a Southern European island country consisting of an archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. It lies 80 km south of Italy,284 km east of Tunisia, the country covers just over 316 km2, with a population of just under 450,000, making it one of the worlds smallest and most densely populated countries. The capital of Malta is Valletta, which at 0.8 km2, is the smallest national capital in the European Union, Malta has one national language, which is Maltese, and English as an official language. John, French and British, have ruled the islands, King George VI of the United Kingdom awarded the George Cross to Malta in 1942 for the countrys bravery in the Second World War. The George Cross continues to appear on Maltas national flag, the country became a republic in 1974, and although no longer a Commonwealth realm, remains a member state of the Commonwealth of Nations. Malta was admitted to the United Nations in 1964 and to the European Union in 2004, in 2008, Catholicism is the official religion in Malta. The origin of the term Malta is uncertain, and the modern-day variation derives from the Maltese language, the most common etymology is that the word Malta derives from the Greek word μέλι, meli, honey. The ancient Greeks called the island Μελίτη meaning honey-sweet, possibly due to Maltas unique production of honey, an endemic species of bee lives on the island. The Romans went on to call the island Melita, which can be considered either as a latinisation of the Greek Μελίτη or the adaptation of the Doric Greek pronunciation of the same word Μελίτα. Another conjecture suggests that the word Malta comes from the Phoenician word Maleth a haven or port in reference to Maltas many bays, few other etymological mentions appear in classical literature, with the term Malta appearing in its present form in the Antonine Itinerary. The extinction of the hippos and dwarf elephants has been linked to the earliest arrival of humans on Malta. Prehistoric farming settlements dating to the Early Neolithic period were discovered in areas and also in caves. The Sicani were the tribe known to have inhabited the island at this time and are generally regarded as being closely related to the Iberians. Pottery from the Għar Dalam phase is similar to found in Agrigento. A culture of megalithis temple builders then either supplanted or arose from this early period, the temples have distinctive architecture, typically a complex trefoil design, and were used from 4000 to 2500 BCE. Animal bones and a knife found behind an altar stone suggest that temple rituals included animal sacrifice. Tentative information suggests that the sacrifices were made to the goddess of fertility, the culture apparently disappeared from the Maltese Islands around 2500 BC. Archaeologists speculate that the builders fell victim to famine or disease
8.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
9.
Great Siege of Malta
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The Great Siege of Malta took place in 1565 when the Ottoman Empire tried to invade the island of Malta, then held by the Knights Hospitaller. The Knights, with approximately 2,000 footsoldiers and 400 Maltese men, women and children, withstood the siege and this victory became one of the most celebrated events in sixteenth-century Europe. By the end of 1522, Suleiman the Magnificent, the Ottoman Sultan, had ejected the Knights from their base on Rhodes after the six-month Siege of Rhodes. From 1523 to 1530 the Order lacked a permanent home, charles also required the Knights to garrison Tripoli on the North African coast, which was in territory that the Barbary Corsairs, allies of the Ottomans, controlled. The Knights accepted the offer reluctantly, Malta was a small, desolate island, and for some time, many of the Knights clung to the dream of recapturing Rhodes. Nevertheless, the Order soon turned Malta into a naval base, in particular, the corsair Dragut was proving to be a major threat to the Christian nations of the central Mediterranean. Dragut and the Knights were continually at loggerheads, in 1551, Dragut and the Ottoman admiral Sinan decided to take Malta and invaded the island with a force of about 10,000 men. After only a few days, however, Dragut broke off the siege and moved to the island of Gozo. The Knights governor on Gozo, Gelatian de Sessa, having decided that resistance was futile, the corsairs sacked the town and took virtually the entire population of Gozo into captivity. Dragut and Sinan then sailed south to Tripoli, where they seized the Knights garrison there. They initially installed a leader, Aga Morat, as governor. The two new forts were built in the short period of six months in 1552. All three forts proved crucial during the Great Siege, the next several years were relatively calm, although the guerre de course, or running battle, between Muslims and Christians continued unabated. In 1557 the Knights elected Jean Parisot de Valette Grand Master of the Order and he continued his raids on non-Christian shipping, and his private vessels are known to have taken some 3,000 Muslim and Jewish slaves during his tenure as Grand Master. The Knights joined the expedition, which consisted of about 54 galleys and 14,000 men, the battle was a disaster for the Christians and it marked the high point of Ottoman domination of the Mediterranean. After Djerba there could be little doubt that the Turks would eventually attack Malta again, in August 1560, Jean de Valette sent an order to all the Orders priories that their knights prepare to return to Malta as soon as a citazione was issued. The Turks made an error in not attacking at once, while the Spanish fleet lay in ruins. Meanwhile, the Spaniards continued to prey on Turkish shipping, romegas exploits gave the Turks a casus belli, and by the end of 1564, Suleiman had resolved to wipe the Knights of Malta off the face of the earth
10.
Lost-wax casting
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Lost-wax casting is the process by which a duplicate metal sculpture is cast from an original sculpture. Dependent on the skills, intricate works can be achieved by this method. The oldest known examples of this technique are the objects discovered in the Cave of the Treasure hoard in southern Israel, conservative estimates of age from carbon-14 dating date the items to c.3700 BC, making them more than 5700 years old. Though the process varies from foundry to foundry, the steps used in casting small bronze sculptures are fairly standardized. Variations of the include, lost mould, which recognizes that materials other than wax can be used. Lost-wax casting was widespread in Europe until the 18th century, when a piece-moulding process came to predominate, casts can be made of the wax model itself, the direct method, or of a wax copy of a model that need not be of wax, the indirect method. These are the steps for the process, Model-making. An artist or mould-maker creates a model from wax, clay. Wax and oil-based clay are often preferred because these materials retain their softness, a mould is made of the original model or sculpture. The rigid outer moulds contain the inner mould, which is the exact negative of the original model. Inner moulds are made of latex, polyurethane rubber or silicone. The outer mould can be made from plaster, but can also be made of fiberglass or other materials. Most moulds are made of at least two pieces, and a shim with keys is placed between the parts during construction so that the mould can be put back together accurately. If there are long, thin pieces extending out of the model, they are cut off of the original. Sometimes many moulds are needed to recreate the model, especially for large models. Once the mould is finished, molten wax is poured into it and swished around until an even coating, usually about 1⁄8 inch thick and this is repeated until the desired thickness is reached. Another method is to fill the mould with molten wax. After this the rest of the wax is poured out again, the mould is turned upside down, with this method it is more difficult to control the overall thickness of the wax layer
11.
Italian language
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By most measures, Italian, together with Sardinian, is the closest to Latin of the Romance languages. Italian is a language in Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City. Italian is spoken by minorities in places such as France, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Crimea and Tunisia and by large expatriate communities in the Americas. Many speakers are native bilinguals of both standardized Italian and other regional languages, Italian is the fourth most studied language in the world. Italian is a major European language, being one of the languages of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. It is the third most widely spoken first language in the European Union with 65 million native speakers, including Italian speakers in non-EU European countries and on other continents, the total number of speakers is around 85 million. Italian is the working language of the Holy See, serving as the lingua franca in the Roman Catholic hierarchy as well as the official language of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Italian is known as the language of music because of its use in musical terminology and its influence is also widespread in the arts and in the luxury goods market. Italian has been reported as the fourth or fifth most frequently taught foreign language in the world, Italian was adopted by the state after the Unification of Italy, having previously been a literary language based on Tuscan as spoken mostly by the upper class of Florentine society. Its development was influenced by other Italian languages and to some minor extent. Its vowels are the second-closest to Latin after Sardinian, unlike most other Romance languages, Italian retains Latins contrast between short and long consonants. As in most Romance languages, stress is distinctive, however, Italian as a language used in Italy and some surrounding regions has a longer history. What would come to be thought of as Italian was first formalized in the early 14th century through the works of Tuscan writer Dante Alighieri, written in his native Florentine. Dante is still credited with standardizing the Italian language, and thus the dialect of Florence became the basis for what would become the language of Italy. Italian was also one of the recognised languages in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Italy has always had a dialect for each city, because the cities. Those dialects now have considerable variety, as Tuscan-derived Italian came to be used throughout Italy, features of local speech were naturally adopted, producing various versions of Regional Italian. Even in the case of Northern Italian languages, however, scholars are not to overstate the effects of outsiders on the natural indigenous developments of the languages
12.
Saint John's Co-Cathedral
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St Johns Co-Cathedral is a Roman Catholic co-cathedral in Valletta, Malta, dedicated to Saint John the Baptist. It was built by the Order of St. John between 1572 and 1577, having been commissioned by Grand Master Jean de la Cassière as the Conventual Church of Saint John. The church was designed by the Maltese architect Girolamo Cassar, who designed several of the prominent buildings in Valletta. In the 17th century, its interior was redecorated in the Baroque style by Mattia Preti, the interior of the church is considered to be one of the finest examples of high Baroque architecture in Europe. St. Johns Co-Cathedral was commissioned in 1572 by Jean de la Cassière and it was initially named, in the Italian common language of the time, as Chiesa Conventuale di San Giovanni Battista. The church was designed by the Maltese architect Girolamo Cassar, who was responsible for the construction of many important buildings in Valletta. However Cassar still took decisions over the design and made modifications. Once St. Johns was completed in 1577, it became the new church of the Order instead of St. Lawrences Church in the Orders former headquarters Birgu. Construction of the oratory and sacristy began in 1598, during the magistracy of Martin Garzez, for the first century of its existence, the churchs interior was modestly decorated. However, in the 1660s, Grand Master Raphael Cotoner ordered the redecoration of the interior so as to rival the churches of Rome, Calabrian artist Mattia Preti was in charge of the embellishment, and effectively completely transformed the interior in the Baroque style. In 1748, Grand Master António Manoel de Vilhena built annexes on the side of the cathedral, St. Johns remained the conventual church of the Order until the latter was expelled from Malta with the French occupation in 1798. Over time, the church grew to prominence with the archbishops cathedral at Mdina. In the 1820s, the Bishop of Malta was allowed to use St Johns as an alternative see, in 1831, Sir Walter Scott called the cathedral a magnificent church, the most striking interior ever seen. Later on in the 19th century, Giuseppe Hyzler, a leader of the Nazarene movement, removed some of the Baroque art of the cathedral, the cathedrals exterior was slightly damaged by aerial bombardment in 1941, during World War II, barely escaping total destruction. The contents of the cathedral had been transferred elsewhere before the bombardment, the cathedral was restored between the late 1980s and the early 1990s. In 2001, the St. Johns Co-Cathedral Foundation was set up to administer and conserve the cathedral, the sides of the cathedral were restored between 2008 and 2010, and a complete restoration of the exterior began to be carried out in July 2014. This restoration is being directed by architect Jean Frendo and eight restorers, restoration of the central part of the façade was completed in September 2015, and the project is expected to be ready in 2017. Today, the cathedral is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Malta, the cathedrals exterior is built in the Mannerist style typical of its architect Girolamo Cassar
13.
Auberge d'Auvergne
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The Auberge dAuvergne was an auberge in Valletta, Malta. It was built in the 16th century to house knights of the Order of Saint John from the langue of Auvergne and it became a courthouse in the 19th century, and it remained so until it was destroyed by aerial bombardment in 1941. The site is now occupied by the Courts of Justice building, Auberge dAuvergne was located in Great Siege Square within Strada San Giorgio, facing the nave of St. Johns Co-Cathedral. The langue of Auvergne received the authorization to construct the auberge on 8 June 1570 and it was completed in around 1583, and the building was constructed to a design of the Maltese architect Girolamo Cassar. Auberge dAuvergne was enlarged in 1783, when part of an adjacent 16th-century palace called Casa Caccia was incorporated into the building, the auberge continued to house the langue of Auvergne until 1798, when the Order left Malta due to the French occupation. The ground floor of the building was occupied by a number of shops, the building was included on the Antiquities List of 1925 together with the other auberges in Valletta. On 23 May 1930, an assassination attempt occurred in the auberge, on 30 April 1941, during World War II, the auberge and the adjacent Casa Caccia were hit by a German parachute mine, and they were severely damaged. The law courts moved to another location outside Valletta, at Balzan and at a seminary in Floriana. They remained there until 1956, when the premises had to be vacated due to their dilapidated state, the ruins were subsequently demolished, and a new courthouse with a neoclassical design began to be built on the site on 5 May 1965. It was inaugurated on 9 January 1971, the site of the portico is scheduled at grade 3, according to a 2006 decision, as some remains of the auberge may remain below ground. Auberge dAuvergne was built in the Mannerist style, typical of its architect Girolamo Cassar, the building originally had a square plan with a central courtyard, and it had a somewhat plain façade containing an ornate doorway flanked by three windows on either side. The quoins of the building had similar to those found at Auberge dAragon. After the 1783 enlargement, three windows were added on the left side of the building, and its façade was no longer symmetrical
14.
Coins of the Maltese lira
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Coins of the Maltese lira have been struck from when Malta adopted decimal currency in 1972, to 2007, after which Malta adopted the euro. There were 10 mils in one cent, and 100 cents in one Maltese lira, the coins in this series replaced the pre-decimal Pound Sterling which had been in use in Malta since 1825. Therefore, the sizes for some coins were similar to their equivalents, for example the 5c was similar to the shilling. These coins were designed by Christopher Ironside OBE, in June 1975 an octagonal 25 cent coin was introduced to commemorate Malta becoming a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations on 13 December 1974. The new coat of arms appeared on the side. A new series was issued on 19 May 1986, which consisted of 1,2,5,10,25,50 cents and 1 lira, all depicting local flora and fauna on the obverse and the republican coat of arms on the reverse. The 1 lira coin was introduced in series, replacing a former banknote. In 1988 a new coat of arms was adopted showing a heraldic representation of the Maltese flag, a mural crown, the coin series of 1991 depicted the new coat of arms, but the reverse side remained the same. This series remained in use until 2007, being withdrawn in January 2008 upon the introduction of the Euro
15.
Maltese lira
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The lira was the currency of Malta from 1825 until 31 December 2007. The lira was abbreviated as Lm, although the traditional ₤ sign was used locally. In English, the currency was still called the pound because of the past usage of British currency on the islands. The euro replaced the Maltese lira as the currency of Malta on 1 January 2008 at the irrevocable fixed exchange rate of 0.429300 MTL per 1 euro. In 1825, an imperial order-in-council introduced British currency to Malta, replacing a situation where various coinages circulated, the pound was valued at 12 scudi of the local currency. This exchange rate meant that the smallest Maltese coin, the grano, was one third of a farthing. Consequently, 1⁄3-farthing coins were issued for use in Malta until 1913, amongst the British colonies which used the sterling coinage, Malta was unique in having the 1⁄3-farthing coin. Between 1914 and 1918, wartime emergency paper money issues were made by the government. Until 1972, it was subdivided into 20 shillings, each of 12 pence with 4 farthings to the penny, from May 1972 it was divided into 100 cents, and the 1 cent into 10 mils. Pre-decimal British sterling coinage continued to circulate in Malta for nearly a year after it was withdrawn in the UK due to decimilization on 15 February 1971, then in 1972, a new, decimal Maltese currency, the lira, was introduced, in both coin and banknote form. The lira was equal to the pound sterling, however this parity did not survive long after the floating of sterling on 22 June 1972. Emergency issues between 1914 and 1918 were in denominations of 5 and 10 shillings,1,5 and 10 pounds, note production continued after the Second World War in denominations of 10 shillings and 1 pound, with 5 pounds notes reintroduced between 1961–1963. While the designs of the notes remained unchanged, the colors were changed, the Central Bank refers to this series as the CBM first series. The CBM second series began with the introduction of lira-denominated notes on January 15,1973, banknotes issued by the Government of Malta and then by the Central Bank of Malta were written in English up to 1972, with the denomination pounds. From 1973 to 1985, they were written in Maltese on the using the denomination liri. From 1986 to 2007, Maltese and liri were used on both sides, although using British coins, Malta did not decimalize with the UK in 1971. Instead, it adopted a system in 1972, based on the lira subdivided into 1000 mils or 100 cents. The name lira was used on banknotes beginning in 1973, initially jointly with pound, mils were removed from circulation in 1994
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Davide Calandra
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Davide Calandra was an Italian sculptor and cabinet maker. Davide Calandra was born in Turin into a wealthy family and his father, besides his professional activities of lawyer and hidraulic engineer, was an archaeologist and a well known collector of ancient weapons. Davides eldest brother, the writer Edoardo Calandra, was a prominent author who wrote the novel La bufera, after attending the Liceo Calandra followed the art lectures of the Accademia Albertina and then joined as a volunteer the cavalry where he attained the military rank of Sottotenente. In 1878 he worked with his father and his brother to an excavation of the Lombard archaeological site of Testona, one of Calandras first sculptures, Vigils of Penelope, was displayed in 1880 at the Turins Exhibition of Fine Arts. At the 1884 National Exhibition in Turin, he displayed three works, Judah, Tigre Reale, and Fior di Chiostro, Calandra Also completed many portrait busts and bas-reliefs. From 1912 he was appointed president of the Piedmontese Society of Archaeology and he died in Turin in 1915. His sculptures include a Garibaldi statue in Parma and a monument of Prince Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi, commissioned by the city of Turin. He also completed the monument to King Umberto II in Villa Borghese, Calandra also completed a large monument of the Argentinian politician and writer Bartolomé Mitre, the monument is found in Buenos Aires. His vast artistic production also includes some Italian coins made between 1908 and 1916 during the rule of Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, the municipal museum Antonino Olmo of Savigliano houses the Gipsoteca Davide Calandra which shows several of his plasterworks. The initial version of this article was based on a translation of its equivalent on the Italian Wikipedia, page on the Savigliano municipality web-site about the Gipsoteca Davide Calandra
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Palazzo Montecitorio
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The Palazzo Montecitorio is a palace in Rome and the seat of the Italian Chamber of Deputies. The palaces name derives from the hill on which it is built, which was claimed to be the Mons Citatorius. The building was designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini for the young Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi. The building was designated for public and social functions only, due to Innocent XIIs firm antinepotism policies which were in contrast to his predecessors, in 1696 the Curia apostolica was installed there. Later it was home to the Governatorato di Roma and the police headquarters, the excavated obelisk of the Solarium Augusti, now known as the Obelisk of Montecitorio, was installed in front of the palace by Pius VI in 1789. The former internal courtyard was roofed over and converted into an assembly room by Paolo Comotto. The Chamber was inaugurated on 21 November 1871, but the building proved wholly inadequate, the acoustics were terrible, it was very cold in winter and very hot in summer. As a result of damage from water seepage, the palace was condemned in 1900. An attempt to build a new palace for the Chamber of Deputies on the Via Nazionale failed, only in 1918 was the Chamber definitively returned to the Palazzo Montecitorio. The return of the Chamber of Deputies to the palace followed extensive renovations, the architect, Ernesto Basile, was an exponent of Art nouveau, known in Italy as the Liberty style. He reduced the courtyard, demolished the wings and rear of the palace, constructing a new structure dominated by four red-brick, Basile also added the so-called Transatlantico, the long and impressive salon which surrounds the debating chamber and now acts as the informal centre of Italian politics
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Papal tiara
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The papal tiara is a crown that was worn by popes of the Catholic Church from as early as the 8th century to the mid-20th. It was last used by Pope Paul VI in 1963 and only at the beginning of his reign, from 1143 to 1963, the papal tiara was solemnly placed on the popes head during a papal coronation. The surviving papal tiaras are all in the form, the oldest being of 1572. A representation of the triregnum combined with two crossed keys of Saint Peter continues to be used as a symbol of the papacy and appears on documents, buildings. The papal tiara originated from a conical Phrygian cap or frigium, shaped like a candle-extinguisher, the papal tiara and the episcopal mitre were identical in their early forms. Names used for the tiara in the 8th and 9th centuries include camelaucum, pileus. A circlet of linen or cloth of gold at the base of the tiara developed into a metal crown, the first of these appeared at the base of the traditional white papal headgear in the 9th century. When the popes assumed temporal power in the Papal States, the crown became decorated with jewels to resemble the crowns of princes. However, a fresco in the Chapel of Saint Sylvester in the church of the Santi Quattro Coronati in Rome seems to represent the Pope wearing a tiara with two bands and with lappets. The addition of a crown is attributed to Pope Benedict XI or Pope Clement V. The first years of the 16th century saw the addition of a little globe, the third crown was added to the papal tiara during the Avignon Papacy, giving rise to the form called the triregnum. After Pope Clement V at Avignon, various versions of the three-crown tiara have been worn by popes also in Rome down to Pope Paul VI, who was crowned with one in 1963. The increased length had the meaning of dominion of the una sancta ecclesia over the earth. At the summit was a large ruby. Boniface VIII was succeeded in 1303 by Benedict XI, who took the tiara to Perugia, after his death in 1304 there was a period of eleven months before a new Pope succeeded. The Archbishop of Bordeaux was chosen and took the title of Clement V and he removed the papal seat from Rome to Avignon and the tiara was brought to Lyons from Perugia for his coronation on 14 November 1305. In the inventory which was taken in 1315–16 Boniface VIIIs tiara is again described and can be identified by the mention of the large ruby and it is described as having three circlets corona quae vocatur, regnum cum tribus circuitis aureis. It therefore must have been between the taking of the two inventories in 1295 and 1315 that the second and third circlets were added to the tiara and it was during this period that the fleur-de-lis was used to decorate the circlets
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Minerva
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Minerva was the Roman goddess of wisdom and sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. She was born with weapons from the head of Jupiter, after impregnating the titaness Metis, Jupiter recalled a prophecy that his own child would overthrow him. Fearing that their child would grow stronger than he and rule the Heavens in his place, the titaness forged weapons and armor for her child while within the father-god, and the constant pounding and ringing gave him a headache. To relieve the pain, Vulcan used a hammer to split Jupiters head and, from the cleft, Minerva emerged, whole, adult, from the 2nd century BC onwards, the Romans equated her with the Greek goddess Athena. She was the goddess of music, poetry, medicine, wisdom, commerce, weaving. She is often depicted with her sacred creature, an owl usually named as the owl of Minerva, stemming from an Italic moon goddess *Meneswā, the Etruscans adopted the inherited Old Latin name, *Menerwā, thereby calling her Menrva. It is assumed that her Roman name, Minerva, is based on this Etruscan mythology, Minerva was the goddess of wisdom, war, art, schools and commerce. She was the Etruscan counterpart to Greek Athena, like Athena, Minerva was born from the head of her father, Jupiter. The word mens is built from the Proto-Indo-European root *men- mind, the Etruscan Menrva was part of a holy triad with Tinia and Uni, equivalent to the Roman Capitoline Triad of Jupiter-Juno-Minerva. Minerva was the daughter of Jupiter, as Minerva Medica, she was the goddess of medicine and doctors. As Minerva Achaea, she was worshipped at Lucera in Apulia where votive gifts, in Fasti III, Ovid called her the goddess of a thousand works. Minerva was worshipped throughout Italy, and when she eventually became equated with the Greek goddess Athena, unlike Mars, god of war, she was sometimes portrayed with sword lowered, in sympathy for the recent dead, rather than raised in triumph. In Rome her bellicose nature was emphasized less than elsewhere and her worship was also spread throughout the empire—in Britain, for example, she was syncretized with the local goddess Sulis, who was often invoked for restitution for theft. The Romans celebrated her festival from March 19 to March 23 during the day which is called, in the plural, Quinquatria, the fifth after the Ides of March, the nineteenth. A lesser version, the Minusculae Quinquatria, was held on the Ides of June, June 13, by the flute-players, in 207 BC, a guild of poets and actors was formed to meet and make votive offerings at the temple of Minerva on the Aventine Hill. Among others, its members included Livius Andronicus, the Aventine sanctuary of Minerva continued to be an important center of the arts for much of the middle Roman Republic. When it was founded, the emperor himself was present and was believed to be of divine nature as a result of its construction, Minerva is featured on the coinage of different Roman Emperors. She is often represented on the side of a coin holding an owl
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Media related to Great Siege Monument at Wikimedia Commons
