Mdina, the Silent City of Malta

Walking through Mdina, Malta’s old capital, is like taking a stroll through thousands of years of history. Perched on the highest point of the island, it still seems to cast its watchful eyes on the Mediterranean, on the lookout for invading marauders, while it guards, within its walls, memories and imprints of ages gone by.

Locals and tourists alike just love the Città Notabile. Any visit to the island, be it a two-month stay or a short stop-over on a cruise, is incomplete without a tour of Mdina’s narrow streets and palaces that still house, as they did hundreds of years ago, the nobility of Malta.

As soon as you step inside, past one of its three entrances, you immediately realise why Mdina is known as the Silent City. Despite the metallic echoing of your footsteps, a veil of silence envelops anyone and anything that enters the city, hushing sounds and somehow reducing everyday noises. Even at its busiest – during Good Friday, feasts of patron saints or historical re-enactments that never fail to attract crowds to its streets – Mdina never seems to generate the amount of noise that other places do.

One look at the view from the fortified walls in Bastion Square at the far end of the city is all it takes to understand why the ancient peoples of four thousand years ago chose this spot to build a settlement. Mdina commands a view of half of Malta and of its coast where enemy boats or galleys could anchor for an attack. From such a height, 200 meters above sea level, it was easy to keep an eye out for the slave-traders and pirates who used to plague the island, carrying off livestock and and many locals.

By 700 BC Mdina, then called Maleth, had been fortified by the Phoenicians. Under Roman rule, it changed its name to Melita and was allowed to expand until it included the suburb that is now the town of Rabat. It was here that St. Paul, after his shipwreck in 80 AD, baptised the first convert, the Roman governor Publius who was later canonised and is today the patron saint of the town of Floriana.

When the Arabs conquered the island, they re-named the city Mdina, dug a moat around it, designed the narrow, curved streets intended to stop arrows and made it the miniature jewel it is today. Within its walls, with massive doors to keep the enemy out, the peasant population sought refuge whenever plunderers arrived to ravage the land.

Even after the Arabs were ousted by the Normans who arrived in 1080, Mdina remained the the seat of government and the arena of major historical events until the 16th century when the Knights Hospitallers of the Order of St. John were given the island by the King of Spain. The first Grand Master of Malta, Philippe Villiers de L’Isle Adam, was greeted at Mdina’s gates by the Maltese nobility and population and given the keys to the city. But at first the Knights had no intention of settling permanently in Malta. A few years, and a Great Siege later, they decided otherwise and so started to build their new capital, Valletta, in 1566, close to the sea and to their fleet.

The Knights remained in Malta for 200 years, during which time they left their indelible imprint on the island’s architecture. Even though Mdina was no longer the center of government, the Knights still left their mark on it, along with the Normans, whose houses are now either private residences or restaurants.

The Baroque palace just inside the main gate was designed by Grand Master Manoel de Vilhena and currently houses the Museum of Natural History. The Cathedral that dominates the square at the center of the city was rebuilt the way it is today in the 17th century after an earthquake badly damaged the original church. Once a year, mass is still celebrated here for the repose of the soul of the 11th century Norman conqueror Count Roger who, according to legend, bestowed the red and white flag on the island.

When Napoleon took over the island in 1798, the first sparks of the revolt against the French were ignited in Mdina. This happened when the French took to plundering the churches to finance their war campaigns and were making off with the silver and auctioning the damask. The Maltese uprising was rapid and violent, and the French officer Masson was thrown to his death from the balcony of the Casa Viani while the rest of the French troops in Mdina were eliminated. The French were forced to blockade themselves in Valletta until they finally surrendered in 1800 when the British answered Malta’s call for help.

The next century was a time of peace for Malta. It was during World War II that the island knew fear and bloodshed once more. Fortunately, Mdina was spared the blitz, and, as it had done for centuries on end, afforded shelter to refugees from the heavily-bombarded harbor areas.

The days of tumult and fear of invaders are now over for Mdina, even though there are some who swear that the past lives on in the ghosts that are said to haunt this old city. Doubtlessly, walking by night through the lamplit streets of this Silent City can be unnerving and a person can’t be blamed for casting a nervous glance backwards once in a while and then heaving a sigh of relief as soon as the city gates are left behind.

This, however, does nothing to lessen Mdina’s magnetism. Visitors are captivated by its character, its architecture and its atmosphere. Attractions like the Mdina Experience, the Knights of Malta and the Mdina Dungeons afford a glimpse into the history of the island and of Mdina in particular. The Cathedral Museum, formerly the seminary, houses works of art by Dürer and Caravaggio.

The many little coffee shops and restaurants tucked away in the bastions offer a breath-taking view of the island as well as a range of local dishes. On the other hand, if one wishes to experience the timelessness of a medieval palace, one can always dine in one of the palaces that have been converted into restaurants, like Palazzo Costanzo.

All you have to do is be adventurous, take the plunge, and explore every nook and cranny of this enchanting Medieval city to unearth its hidden treasures.