Repaving of Intramural Area

Repaving of Intramural Area

As a fortified city, Birgu served both a military and social function. The city, which originated as a medieval fisherman’s village huddled in the shadow of a Castrum Maris, retained its largely original medieval layout of narrow winding streets and alleys. After the coming of the Knights in 1530, and the enclosure of the settlement within a bastioned enceinte, a substantial part of the intramural area was reserved exclusively for the Knights and their main buildings – a conventual church, hospital, and auberges – creating the so-called Collachio. Most of these narrow streets and other spaces within the project boundary had lost their original paving under layers of tarmac and concrete. The ERDF 039 project has sought to rehabilitate the paving as an essential component of the historic urban fabric in order to communicate a more sympathetic ‘spirit of place’.