Victoria, is
known to one and all as Rabat, meaning suburb, as this city
developed as the suburb of the Citadel. The name of Victoria was
given to the town in 1887, in honor of Queen Victoria in her
jubilee year.
Victoria is the capital of Gozo, which lies precisely in the
centre of the island and is the most populated town. It is the
administrative centre, which includes also the main schools,
the hospital and the law courts, serving the island's
community. Its main square is Pjazza Indipendenza,
popularly known as It-Tokk. The main building on the
square is Banca Giuratale, built between 1733 and 1738,
formerly the seat of the municipal government of Gozo and
presently of the Victoria Local Council. An open market is
held every morning in this square and several open air cafes
are also found here.
Republic Street is
Victoria's main street, flanked by shops, banks, theatres,
restaurants, il-Mall or Rundle Gardens and much more. These
gardens were laid out by the British in 1910 and house a variety
of local and imported trees, an oasis of peace in the centre of
the busy town.
Just off the main
square, in the very heart of the old town, one fiends the
medieval parish church of Saint George Martyr, referrers to as
it is entirely covered in marble. the present basilica was
rebuild by its supporters after the destruction by an
earthquake in 1693. It has a profusely gilded interior and
very impressive is the bronze and gilded canopy over the high
alter. The main attraction
is a statue of the
patron Saint George, sculpted in wood in 1838. Saint George's
feast is celebrated on the third Sunday of July.
Citadel, the ancient Citadel, is situated in Victoria
and has been aptly called the Grown of Gozo. It was the centre
of activity possibly since Neolithic ties but it became the
focal point of Gozo around 1500BC, when it was first fortified
by the Bronze Age people. The Phoenicians developed it further
and the Romans turned it into their acropolis dominated by the
temple dedicated to Juno.
The
north side of the present fortifications date from the times of
the Aragonese, while the southern flank, overlooking Victoria, was
raised by the Knights of Saint John between 1699 and 1603.
A visit to the
Citadel is a must and the fatigue of going up the hill is
fully rewarded. From the fortifications there is a superb view
all around the horizon with vistas over the tiny fields cut by
yellow stone walls, domes of village churches rising from
clusters of houses and the Gordan Lighthouse. The number of inhabitants in the Citadel is less then
ten and half the place lies in archaeological ruins which are
continuously being restored. This results from an exodus in
the 17th century to more spacious houses in Victoria.
In the other
half there is the Gozo Cathedral and the Law Courts, as well as
the Cathedral Museum, the Gozo Museum of Archaeology, the Folklore
Museum, The Citadel Armory and the National Museum.
The most impressive of
all is the Cathedral, dedicated to Santa Marija, the Assumption. A
centuries old belief, partly paved archaeologically, noted that a
temple to Juno that had existed within the acropolis was
rededicated by the early Christians to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
When the present building was raised between 1697 and 1711,
remains of this temple were discovered in abundance. The Cathedral
is a fine baroque structure in the form of a Latin cross and is
built entirely of the local limestone on a plan by the Maltese
architect Lorenzo Gafa. Instead of bell towers, a tall campanile
with five bells is attached to the north east side. The interior
is very graceful and well proportioned. A flat ceiling in
prospective closes the aperture of the come. this ingenious
painting, raised in place in 1739, is one of the Cathedral's major
attractions and is sl convincing that many visitors have to be
persuaded that it is not, indeed, a real dome. The other
attraction is the statue of Santa Marija, the Assumption, under
taken in Rome in 1897. The statue of the Madonna was embellished
with a diamond necklace, a gold belt and a solid silver plinth
donated by Gozitans who emigrated to the New World and made good.
On the 15th August, it is taken shoulder in a procession around
the streets of Victoria.
