Saturday 16th December : Zurrieq (Cultural)
The weather held, and some forty people turned up for our
cultural activity (rather than a walk) in Zurrieq. Mr. Tony
Mangion, from the University of Malta, took us around the 17th
century parish church, dedicated to St Catherine. Mr. Mangion
used his vast knowledge to tell us something about the history
of the church, complete with exact names and dates. He gave us a
brief history of Mattia Preti, il Cavalier Calabrese, the famous
17th century Italian artist who spent the last 40 years of his
life in Malta and produced many works of art that are still to
be found in Malta.
Inside Zurrieq Parish Church
Mr. Mangion then explained all the fine details about the six
Preti paintings that are found in the Zurrieq parish church, one
of the largest collections in Malta apart from St Johns
Co-Cathedral and the Museum of Fine Arts.
From the church, we walked to the residence of the parish
priest, Dun Charles Attard, very close to the church. In the
garden of this house, there is a good example of a Punic
building, nowadays known as a tower. Mr. Mangion was also the
guide here, explaining something about early Maltese history,
and describing other Punic remains that used to exist close by.
The Punic Tower
From the village square we walked through old village
streets, then along Triq il-Bronja (the Bronja is the conch used
by the miller to signal to the villagers that the mill was
working) to the Xarolla Windmill, il-Mithna tax-Xarolla (from
Xaghra Gholja). It was last used to grind wheat commercially in
1939, the last mill in Malta. It was subsequently lived-in until
1979, when the October storm destroyed the sails and rendered
the place uninhabitable. It was completely restored in 1996, and
is now maintained by Mr.George Sammut, who comes from a family
of "tahhana". The Xarolla windmill is now the only completely
-functional windmill in the whole of Maltese islands.
Mr. Sammut, an expert on Maltese windmills, was at the
windmill to tell us something about windmills in Malta and this
particular windmill. He explained the mechanism of the mill, old
Maltese milling practices, and replied to the many questions
asked by the group. Mr. Sammut is usually at the windmill on
weekend mornings (Saturdays and Sundays)
Il-mithna tax-Xarolla
As a matter of interest, around and under the windmill, there
are the remains of a Paleo-Christian catacomb, discovered
recently and still not fully excavated.
From the windmill we walked to the Chapel of the Annunciation
in Hal Millieri. The Hal Millieri chapel, as it is known, is
probably the most important historical monument from Malta's
mediaeval past. The present edifice dates back to around 1450
and was constructed over the site of an earlier and much older
chapel and parts of a late Roman rural complex. The chapel,
consecrated in 1480, was restored by Din L-Art Helwa, and is
still maintained by this heritage organization.
Chapel of the Annunciation in Hal Millieri
Again, Mr. Tony Mangion was here, very kindly opened the chapel
for us (it is usually open only on the first Sunday of the
month) and passed on some of his knowledge of history of this
mediaeval chapel and its surroundings. We gratefully thank Mr.
Mangion, who gave us some of his valuable time to make this a
successful activity.
From Hal Millieri it was back to our starting point, Zurrieq
Parish square.
