And what a beautiful day.
Now we're going to a place, Mdina, which is
called the silent City. In the middle of
Malta it used to be the only fortress and
at one point was the capital of the
country.
Why is it called silent City? I don't know.
Let's go and find out.
Welcome to Mdina or "the silent City" but
why is it called the silent City? Well I
did a little bit of research asked
around and it seems there is no one
answer to this, nobody seems to be
certain as to why it's called the silent
city so as we wander around and I show
you the views I thought I can tell you a
bit about the history, about Mdina
because it's fascinating and the
different theories as to why it is now
called or known as the silent city.
So starting off Mdina is a remarkable
walled fortress right in the centre of
the island of Malta. It has a long and
fascinating history, it was originally
founded by the Phoenicians
over 2,000 years ago in the eighth
century BC and it was then called Malath.
The next major event in the history of
Mdina was when the governor of the city,
he was called Publius who was standing on
the walls overlooking because you get
fantastic views over the city,
over the island, which is why it's such
a strategic spot and he was looking out
over the bay during a storm and he saw a
shipwreck, and it was the shipwreck of
the Apostle Paul. Now he rescued the
Apostle Paul, took him in and the Apostle
Paul then converted him to Christianity
and healed his father of sickness. Now
this started the spread of Christianity
over the island of Malta and it is still
predominantly a Christian island and
Publius became the first bishop of Malta
and the bay where Saint Paul was shipwrecked
is now called St. Paul's Bay and the
cathedral which was originally built
there and has been rebuilt many times throughout
history is still called St. Paul's Cathedral
in the city of Mdina.
By the year 218
AD the Roman Empire arrived in Malta and
took over the city, they expanded the
defenses to have to three times its size
they really built it up and they called
the city, it was then called Melita.
Malta became a very strategic centre for
the shipping lanes around the
Mediterranean and they built lots of
temples and things in and around the Mdina
but as the Roman empire crumbled and
fell so did the roman buildings, now very
little is left nowadays of any of the
remains of the Romans being there, it's
been built over year after year, there's
a few things here and there but mostly
it's gone.
After the Roman Empire fell
the new order came in, this time the
Byzantine Empire. Now they actually
reduced the size of the city that the
Romans had built up to
make it more defendable, because they
were worried about the next set of
invaders and attackers, this time the
Arabs.
Now Melita as it was known then
withstood several assaults from Arab
attackers and pirates until the siege of
870AD where after a seven-month siege
of the city it fell, and the inhabitants
were massacred, the city was destroyed
and the church was looted. The city then
remained largely uninhabited for many
years, giving rise to the first theory on
why it's called the Silent City. A
once proud and busy city
reduced to rubble and ruin.
Over a hundred years later a group of Muslim
traders with their slaves built a new
settlement on the site of the old city
and called it the name we know today
Mdina.
But it didn't take long before they were
settled before the Byzantine Empire came
back, and then a year-long siege took
place.
Fortunately for the people of
Mdina they held out, the Byzantine
Empire withdrew
and peace returned to Mdina but only
for a short while.
In 1091 Roger of Sicily,
a Norman who had conquered Sicily
sailed across to Malta with an army to
conquer Malta in order to fortify it and
use it as a defense against raiding parties
of Arabs and North Africans who were
coming across to Sicily.
Like a defense platform.
Now upon landing in Malta he
was met with little opposition and the
rulers and Mdina agreed that the island
would become a tributary of Sicily while
continuing to administer itself. So a
sort of an early agreement of you know
we won't fight with each other and
we'll send you money.
Now some people say
that to cement this agreement Sir Roger
cut off a piece of his banner to raise
as a flag over the city of Mdina and
this is how the Maltese got their red
and white flag. Again nobody can actually
confirm as to whether that's actually
true or not but it sounds a nice story hey?
Over the next 300 years the
city was actually outgrown by
the nearby settlement of Rabat. Being a
walled city there's not much room for
expansion or growth inside it, so a lot
of the nobles and the rich people and
the soldiers remained in the fort and
the nearby city grew. But the whole area
of Malta and Mdina suffered various
attacks from Arabs, Saracens, Moors and
pirates. They fended off most
Successfully, that's one of your art of
being a walled city with just one
entrance and on top of a hill. If they
saw the enemy coming, because they had
good viewpoints because you can see so
far in all directions ,you can see an
approaching army, they could hole up in
the city and wait for them to retreat.
But one particular pirate attack gave
rise to the second theory of why it's
called the silent city. It was around the
year 1429 when a large pirate force
sailed around Malta attempting to attack
the various ports, it was looking for a
headquarters to base itself in the
Mediterranean. They attacked the various
settlements around the coast and they
were repelled from most of them.
Finally they retreated into St Paul's
Bay and found an unopposed landing, they
then marched on to Mdina and besieged
it. Now at this time there was about 700
people living in the city, and after a
brief siege the Pirates took over the
city and moved in and for the next 20 or
so years they used it as their official
"pirate capital" while they sent out raids
into the Mediterranean.
Then one day, they were gone.
Not just the Pirates but all the
original inhabitants of the city. The
city stood empty and silent. And nobody
and nothing in history accounts for what
happened. The pirate ships were gone, the
pirates were gone, all the original
Inhabitants were gone. Nobody knows. So again
the name the Silent City.
Now understandably after this people were
reluctant to move back into the city,
it isn't really having a good track
record at this point. But several of the
noble families from the surrounding
cities moved into the city and started
building it up again, building up the
fortifications. It was after all the most
strategic place and it still was the
capital of Malta. The order of St.
John took over Malta in 1530, the nobles
of Mdina ceremoniously handed over the
keys of the city to the Grandmaster so
he could continue to rule Malta from
Mdina the capital. But he chose
differently and Mdina lost its capital
status. Instead the Knights opted to
remain closer to the coast in the cities
of Birgu and Senglea which they
built up into bigger fortifications. They
did also upgrade the fortifications of
Mdina and rebuilt the Cathedral there.
Now the new fortifications of Mdina and
the other cities of Malta were soon put
to the test. In 1565 during the great siege
of Malta when the Ottoman Empire landed
on the island. And the Knights of the
order barricaded themselves into their
city strongholds. Well prepared and well
defended they not only successfully
repelled the Ottoman attacks but the
cavalry that was based at Mdina
regularly made sorties out of the city
to harass and raid the Ottoman
camps and supply routes, thwarting the
invaders attempts to gain a foothold on
the island. After a six-month siege and
many battles, the Turks were defeated.
When the great relief, a force of
eight thousand soldiers arrived on
Malta from the island of Sicily. The
effect of the Ottoman Empire's defeat on
Malta had a profound effect on history
as the kings of Europe united to push
back at the previously undefeatable
Ottomans and signal a demise of the
Ottoman Empire.
In the following years
Mdina underwent renovation and
improvement to its fortifications and
buildings and a strong baroque influence
was introduced to the city by one of the
Architects. And a new entrance gate was
constructed it's the entrance gate we
walk through today as we go into the
City.
History rolled on and in 1798 a new
force captured the city, this time it was
the French under the Emperor Napoleon
and he garrisoned 65 soldiers in the
fort at Mdina.
Now in September the same
year the Maltese uprising broke
out and in September of that year a
group of rebel snuck into the
city at night and massacred the French
garrison. In the morning there was none
of the usual noise that the soldiers went, as
the soldiers went about their daily
business, just an eerie silence leading
to yet another theory
for the name the silent City. It was in
fact the last battle that Mdina saw as the
French surrendered in 1800 and Malta
became a British protectorate.
Today
Mdina is a major tourist attraction and
well worth a visit. The narrow winding
streets that in the past saw Knights on
horses riding through are now restricted
to just a few vehicles for the some 300
residents who live there. To visit you
must either walk or take a horse and
carriage. Now this has given rise to the
final theory as to why it's called the
silent City, the fact that there is so
little traffic allowed in keeps the
streets quiet and silent. Some locals
will also tell you not to make noise if
you walk the historic cobbled streets at
night lest you wake the spirits of the long dead.