Suburban storytelling

.


I have been looking around for creative and innovative ways to market La Indulgenza even though the finished product is for the most part still on paper. A couple of weeks ago I was asked to take over a blog promoting Maltese culture. With an established average of 100 visits daily, this was an opportunity I could not pass up.

What if I created a story, a tale that takes place in Vittoriosa itself? The primary and most crucial part of the sell is the location, before one even starts thinking of marketing the house itself. Better still, why not have the main character live in the house itself? Involve local landmarks, familiar streets and places and you could eventually even get some tourism spin-off. Well, the story has to entice and enthuse before all of this happens but, in the meantime, I shall enjoy spinning the story and getting lost in the plot with its characters.

Ladies and gentlemen, and those undecided, I present to you the first episode of the serial Borgo. Enjoy
.

gathering clouds

.


All the gods are scheming. Call them challenges, problems, barriers, they're all flippin annoying and they're all out to get me. Paranoid, moi'? You would not believe the obstacles I've had to tackle. Aaaaaaaaarghhhhhhhhhhhhhh!! A weekend to mull things over and we'll deal with the issue as soon as I can think straight.
.

For your eyes only

.
It is easy to feel disheartened at this stage. There is so much that seems to go wrong. This week the weather conspired against us closing off the roof so we have placed our attention elsewhere. I had objected to the way a wall had been constructed and it has now been dismantled and is in the process of being rebuilt in the correct manner.



In the meantime, to whet your appetite here is one of the individual pieces of furniture exclusively designed for the house. It is being manufactured as we speak. This closet will be finished in white lacquer on the outside. Inside it will have a richly coloured pattern to contrast with the white outside. The voluptuous legs are all different, a little bit in the style of Jaime Hayon's Multileg Cabinet Showtime.

The idea of a white exterior hiding a richly coloured interior will be extended to other parts of the house. One of the doors in the house, a thick solid wooden door with a small window in the shape of a key hole will take you down a dark spiral staircase into a tiny "secret" room with a floor to ceiling library.

Since the theme of the house is subtly linked to the Inquisition and the Inquisitor's Palace (a stone's throw from the house), I wanted to create something where wealth of knowledge is hidden away from the disapproving eye of authority. In time I want to fashion other "secret" corners for inquisitive guests to discover.

Myself, I'm fascinated by boxes and other containers for this reason. Oh yes, as most of my women friends will no doubt tell you, also to never leave a handbag unattended in my presence. It's the fatal temptation as far as I'm concerned. It's there to be opened, unwrapped, revealed!
.

Emerging shape

.


I was very excited this morning because finally I was about to see the new shape of the house be revealed. Once most of the living room upstairs was ready, part of the roof and wall of the dining room was to be pulled down so that the two rooms could link. In the existing and proposed cross section drawings below, you'll hopefully be able to make sense of what I'm trying to explain.



Above is how the place used to look if sliced right through (yes, the previous owners were planning to have a cafeteria in the building)



Now, from the dining room you can look up into the living room making it more open plan and bringing in more light from upstairs.



This week work will go on in finishing the roof of the room upstairs. In the meantime, hopefully Mr Contractor is having his well earned rest so that he can deal with all the challenges the house and I throw at him next week.
.

Mike woz here

.


Mike was here just before Easter so we rented a car and managed to get some air as well as check out what work had been done so far on the house. We also walked around Vittoriosa on a Saturday. One of the oldest buildings in Vittoriosa - the Norman house in Triq it-Tramuntana (North Street) was open and we met the nice gentleman that meticulously restored the house and is in the process of restoring the house next door to it. We asked if he'd like to have a look at La Indulgenza and the marine graffiti we found in the chapel room. He said he'll gladly come by on a Saturday.



We also found the opportunity to have a peek at the Piano Nobile (first floor) of the residence of the village band in the main square. I mentioned this in an earlier blog entry. Unfortunately most of the walls of the house were covered to create the ambience for a Holy Week exhibition but the music room with it's balcony that gives unto the main square was there for us to ogle.



Work has finally started on the roof. I was in for a shock yesterday when I visited the site after the workers had left. I looked up and noticed all the "xorok" (ceiling stones) were misaligned. I called the contractor, knowing fair well that he was leaving for Sicily this morning. He explained that the hand cut "xorok" of the period are never straight. He asked me to have a look at the ceilings in the other rooms. They were all haphazardly shaped but seemed to fit in like a jigsaw puzzle. The absence of pointing in the newly laid ceiling upstairs made it more conspicuous. This morning the mason explained the techniques used to avoid any cracks appearing once movement occurs with temperature changes. Can't say it's not a steep learning curve I'm faced with.


.

Of stones and races

.


Again, not much to report on. Building of rooftop room is going ahead, using old stone. We discussed with the architect the possibility of colouring the newer stone so that it blends in with the rest. It is a possibility, but the colour will darken after a few years anyway it seems so it might not be at all necessary. You can now see clearly the 2 apertures that give unto what will be the rooftop/terrace garden.

I must have missed the Regatta (boat racing) on Freedom Day (that's from us British) on 31 March. Vittoriosa must have been victorious again because their trophies were proudly displayed in the main square yesterday.

St Lawrence's

.
This morning I thought I'd wander down to Victory square for a coffee after my daily visit to the house. There isn't much I can report back about the works: The delivery of the recycled building stone did not turn up and the contractor had to make other plans. The workmen used up the stone we had and left off to pick up the structure for the bathroom's concrete floor so as to have something to do if stone delivery does not turn up this afternoon.


the street down from the square

It being close to Good Friday, the band club in the square have already started putting up the decorations related to the holy week. I walked down some steps and the paved road that leads from the square towards the water front and noticed some tourists walking out of a relatively modest looking church.

The church turned out to be the Collegiate Church of St Lawrence, one of the most historically venerated churches in Malta. The original building was built on its site in 1090 and the Knights adopted it as their first conventual church in 1530 after enlarging it. It contained many treasures the Knights brought over from Rhodes when, two years later, it was badly damaged in a fire. The present church is that which was built by Lorenzo Gafa' in the 17th century.


The pulpit

Inside I met a wonderful 72 year old volunteer who told me of the town's well known expertise in wood furniture and intarsjar (inlaid wood). He proudly showed me the amazing pulpit in the church as a prime example of such work.


A Mattia Preti

He insisted I have a closer look at the Mattia Preti painting above the altar. It depicts the martyrdom of St Lawrence. Lawrence is said to have been martyred on a gridiron. An interesting anecdote is that during his torture Lawrence cried out "Assum est, inquit, versa et manduca." (This side’s done, turn me over and have a bite). Christians' dark sense of humour never escapes them, it seems!


Spanish statue of Veronica (17th Century)

But what really intrigued me were the wooden sculptures, some imported from Spain and some sculpted by Maltese artists. They represent the different stages of Jesus' Passion. Some are rather gruesome and in normal circumstances (outside of a church) would require parental guidance.


The dead Jesus

The statue of the dead Christ is housed in an old hearse originally used for the funerals of prominent people during the time of the Order of St John. In 1793 Frangisku Demajo sponsored its redecoration with silver a martello.


Ganutell on top of the hearse decorated with hammered silver

THIS BLOG NEEDS YOUR COMMENT
.

A call to preserve beauty

.


Those of you who know how long it takes in the morning to look decent enough to face the world, understand the call for preservation and enhancement of the beauty of the Three Cities. An exhibition is currently being held at the Malta Maritime Museum on the Vittoriosa Marina to create a further awareness of the need to preserve the cities that overlook the Grand Harbour. Eve of a Renaissance hosts a selection of 40 artworks and will be in aid of Flimkien Ghal Ambjent Ahjar. I feel good about doing my small part with the restoration of this historical house within the Collacchio area of Birgu.

THIS BLOG NEEDS YOUR COMMENT
.

Timing

.


It all happens to our Frank it seems. Let's be frank, my much loved mason has not had the best of luck lately. Yesterday he hurt his leg and had to go to hospital. Thanks to our contractor's immediate response, this morning we have another team working on site. They are currently proceeding with the construction of the room upstairs.



In the meantime, we have had to find temporary storage space for the bathroom and rooftop tiles. I did try to time orders, but we are lagging slightly behind with work so orders have started trickling in before we are ready for them. Thankfully both the contractor and my dad have kindly offered to store things for us.

THIS BLOG NEEDS YOUR COMMENT
.