Valletta, Malta

Valletta's balconies

The balcony is unequivocally an important feature of the Maltese and Gozitan streetscape. It is believed that the first open balconies built entirely from stone began to appear locally during medieval times. Their popularity declined in favour of more introverted constructions which guaranteed better defensibility. But by the mid-16th century, with the settling of the Military Order of St. John of Jerusalem in Malta, the open balcony regained its former popularity.
The first balconies were of the open type and benefited from a stone fence or a wooden or wrought iron rail. An aerial perspective drawing of the newly constructed Valletta published in Bosio's History of the Order of 1602 shows very clearly the absence of any closed timber box balcony. It is believed that the first closed timber balcony appeared around 1679, when the corner balcony of the Grand Master's Palace in Valletta was covered with a timber and glass structure joining all the rooms on this side of the Palace. Many architecture historians maintain that the first balconies were simply an addition to the stone parapet of the open balcony. It was later that the ornament-free, well proportioned masonry panels were transformed to timber, resulting in the closed timber balcony as seen today.
The designs of building facades dating to the early Baroque period were thus not conceived with the closed timber balcony in mind. It was only in later buildings that this element was incorporated in the design of the façade. During the 18th century the popularity of the closed timber balcony spread from Valletta to the villages where it became fashionable to replace the open balconies with an enclosed timber one. One of the few Art Nouveau examples to survive urbanisation, this balcony offers an interesting composition of the "buckle and three tassels" decoration carved in stone, whilst a pair of masks is carved at the level of the bands running half way across the floor. In Maltese folklore, these effigies are believed to fend off the 'evil eye'.

Valletta

Europe’s Smallest Capital City in the Heart of the deep Blue Mediterranean Sea, Valletta is a Dynamic City which has never ceased to change and move forward, retaining its original beauty and splendor.
Valletta is the designer city of the 16th Century built straight from the drawing-board of three men, a Political Leader and Head of the Order of the Knights, Jean Parisot de la Valette, a warrior engineer Francesco Laparelli, and a Maltese Architect, Girolamo Cassar. Valletta is one of Europe’s most sophisticated micro cities with an intense concentration of baroque architecture and a defense line of Fortifications that is second to non.
The City of Valletta was officially recognised as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1980.
(Source:cityofvalletta.org)