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Merħba f'Malta

Land

Malta

12 Orte · 27 Museen

📷 Frank Vincentz · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
museumtickets.com-Reiseführer · Malta

Welcome to Malta

Three small islands in the middle of the Mediterranean with temples older than the pyramids, a fortress capital built by knights and a language all of its own.

On Malta and Gozo, farmers built stone temples more than 5,000 years ago – Ġgantija on Gozo is among the oldest free-standing buildings in the world, and the National Museum of Archaeology in Valletta keeps the famous Sleeping Lady. Valletta itself was built by the Knights of St John after they held the island against the Ottoman army in 1565: walk its straight streets to St John's Co-Cathedral, where Caravaggio's largest painting hangs, and to MUŻA, the national art museum. Across the Grand Harbour, Birgu and Senglea keep the stories of the siege and of the Second World War, when Malta was the most bombed place in Europe. Inland, Mdina is the quiet walled city on the hill; on Gozo, the Citadel looks over the whole island. Buses reach almost every village and the ferry to Gozo takes about 25 minutes. This museumtickets.com guide follows Malta region by region.

  • 3600 BCthe first temples are built – older than Stonehenge and the pyramids of Giza
  • 1565the Great Siege: the Knights and the Maltese hold out against the Ottoman army
  • 2official languages: Maltese, the only Semitic language written in Latin letters, and English

Malta in 6,000 years

From temple builders to knights, empires and a small independent country.

  1. 3600 to 2500 BC

    The temple builders

    Farmers raise huge stone temples on Malta and Gozo and carve their dead a city under the ground, the Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum.

    Zu sehen in: National Museum of Archaeology
  2. 870 to 1091

    Arabs and a new language

    Under Arab rule the islands get new crops, words and place names – the roots of today's Maltese language.

    Zu sehen in: Domvs Romana
  3. 1530

    The Knights of St John arrive

    The order of knights, driven from Rhodes, receives Malta and builds forts around the Grand Harbour.

    Zu sehen in: Malta Maritime Museum
  4. 1565

    The Great Siege

    For almost four months the Knights and the Maltese hold the forts against a huge Ottoman fleet; Europe celebrates.

    Zu sehen in: National War Museum →
  5. 1566 to 1798

    Valletta, a city of knights

    A planned capital rises on the peninsula, with palaces, auberges and a cathedral filled with art.

    Zu sehen in: St John's Co-Cathedral
  6. 1800 to 1964

    British Malta

    After a short French rule, Malta becomes a British naval base; in 1942 the whole island receives the George Cross for its courage under the bombs.

    Zu sehen in: Lascaris War Rooms
  7. 1964

    Independence

    Malta becomes independent, a republic in 1974 and a member of the European Union in 2004.

    Zu sehen in: MUŻA

Women who shaped Malta

Defenders on the walls, a newspaper founder and the first woman president.

The women of Birgu and Senglea (1565)

During the Great Siege, women carried stones, water and food to the walls and poured boiling water on the attackers – the chroniclers wrote it down.

Zu sehen in: Birgu
Mabel Strickland (1899–1988)

Journalist and publisher who led the Times of Malta through the bombing of the Second World War and kept the paper coming out every day.

Agatha Barbara (1923–2002)

Teacher who became Malta's first woman minister and, in 1982, its first woman President.

Artists to look for in Malta

Names that come back in Malta's churches and museums.

Caravaggio

He lived in Malta in 1607 and 1608 and painted The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist – his largest work and the only one he signed.

Zu sehen in: St John's Co-Cathedral
Mattia Preti

The painter-knight from Calabria who covered the cathedral's vault with the life of Saint John and filled Malta's churches with altarpieces.

Zu sehen in: MUŻA
Antonio Sciortino

Maltese sculptor of movement and energy; his playful Les Gavroches stands in the Upper Barrakka Gardens.

Zu sehen in: MUŻA
Emvin Cremona

Modern painter who also designed many of Malta's first stamps after independence.

Zu sehen in: MUŻA

Taste Malta

Sun-dried flavours, flaky pastries and Sunday rabbit.

Pastizzi

Crisp, flaky pastries filled with ricotta or mushy peas – Malta's favourite snack, from tiny bakeries called pastizzeriji.

Ftira

Ring-shaped sourdough bread, split and filled with tomato paste, tuna, capers and olives.

Stuffat tal-fenek

Rabbit slowly cooked in tomato, garlic and herbs – the heart of a fenkata, a long rabbit feast with friends.

Torta tal-lampuki

Pie of dorado fish with spinach and olives, made when the lampuki season starts in late summer.

Ġbejniet

Small round sheep's cheeses from Gozo, fresh, dried or peppered.

Imqaret and Kinnie

Diamond-shaped pastries with dates and aniseed, fried at street stalls – with Kinnie, the bitter-orange soft drink of Malta.

Traditions and festivals through the year

Village feasts, fireworks and a carnival older than the knights' city.

Carnival – late winter

Floats, masks and dancers in Valletta; in Nadur on Gozo the carnival is wild, dark and home-made.

Holy Week – spring

Good Friday processions with life-size statues and people in robes walk through the towns.

Village festa – summer

Every parish celebrates its saint with band marches, decorated streets, the statue carried through the village and fireworks at night.

Mnarja – early summer

An old harvest festival in Buskett woods near Rabat, with rabbit stew, fresh bread and għana, Maltese folk singing late into the night.

Notte Bianca – autumn

One night when Valletta's museums, palaces and squares stay open late with music and art.

Christmas – December

Every family builds a presepju, a crib with a whole village in miniature; in Għajnsielem on Gozo a living Bethlehem is built.

Verborgene Geschichte

The voice under the ground

In a temple carved into the rock, one small room makes a man's voice fill the whole underworld.

Geschichte lesenSchließen

Around 5,000 years ago, people in Paola carved three levels of chambers out of the rock to bury their dead: the Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum. In one small room, now called the Oracle Room, a low voice echoes and seems to come from everywhere at once. Nobody knows if the builders planned it. In the same place, archaeologists found the Sleeping Lady, a tiny clay woman asleep on her side, now in the National Museum of Archaeology. Only a few small groups may go down each day, so the Hypogeum is booked far ahead.

Tipps für Kunstliebhaber

Book the Hypogeum early

Only a small number of visitors may enter each day to protect the paintings and the air – book weeks ahead.

Gozo by ferry

The ferry from Ċirkewwa crosses to Mġarr on Gozo in about 25 minutes; buses on Gozo start from Victoria.

Temples in the morning

Visit the temples early in summer: there is little shade and the light is beautiful.

Churches

Cover shoulders and knees for St John's Co-Cathedral and the village churches.

Malta: Ihren Besuch planen mit museumtickets.com

Auf museumtickets.com: 27 Museen mit Fotos, Anfahrt und Museen in der Nähe. Speichern Sie Ihre Favoriten im kostenlosen Kulturpass und zahlen Sie, wo das Museum es anbietet, Ihren Eintritt im Voraus.

Anreise

Anreise nach Malta

Vom Flughafen mit öffentlichen Verkehrsmitteln ins Stadtzentrum, dann mit Zügen und Nahverkehr zu den Museen.

Anreise mit dem Flugzeug

MLA
Malta InternationalValletta · Birgu · Mdina · Rabat

Unterwegs in Malta

Linien und Fahrpläne ändern sich. Prüfen Sie vor der Fahrt die Website des Verkehrsbetriebs.

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