Gozitan Villages
Victoria
Population: 6050Nearby: Victoria is surrounded by all villages of Gozo
Victoria – the capital city lies South of the Island, and the town was named after the English Monarch Queen Victoria, to commemorate her Silver Jubilee in 1887. The town is also known as Rabat which means a suburb in Arabic. Rabat shares an important history and the town can be divided into two areas: The Old Town and The Citadel.
The Old Town
The Old Town has a lot of interesting points to see. Apart from the narrow streets, niches, churches and small chapels, the town also offers two big libraries; one privately owned and the other owned by the Government and the Gozo archives.
The main road (Republic Street) leads to Independence Square known mostly as “It-Tokk”. This square comes to life every morning with the open flea market, the fish market, some small grocery shops and cafeterias. It-Tokk is dominated by the Banca Giuratale formerly the seat of the Municipal government of Gozo and presently of the Victoria Local Council built between 1733 and 1738, in baroque style of architecture.
St. George’s Basilica known as the Golden Church is just round the corned of the main square. This beautiful church was built in 1670s and a new façade was built in 1818 due to damages of an earthquake. The inside of the St. George’s Basilica is decorated with mosaic, stained glass and with gilt and is also known mostly for is art which include the painting of the dome and ceiling by Gian Battista Conti of Rome and other paintings by Mattia Preti. The parish celebrates the feast of St. George on the third week of July.
Republic Street is the commercial and cultural centre of the whole island. There are all kind of shops, banks, supermarkets, pharmacies, souvenir shops, the police headquarters and the Bishops’ Chancery.
One can also note two big theatres – La Stella and the Aurora Opera House. The band of La Stella Philharmonic Society organizes the annual external feast of St. George where as the Leone Philharmonic society organizes the feast of Santa Marija which is celebrated on the 15th August. Both theatres organize an opera every year: season starting in October.
In the lower Republic Street, one also finds Villa Rundle Gardens which were laid out by the British in 1910.
Victoria also boasts of the unique cinema in Gozo – the Citadel Cinema. This cinema shows recent films during the week in the evenings. In the morning, they also offer a spectacular sound and vision show Gozo 3600. It is a must-to-see terrific show! In little under half an hour, the Gozo 3600 show gives you a glimpse of Gozo’s 7000 years of history and culture and it also explains the activities during the year. The show runs every half an hour starting at 10:00 am with the last show starting at 15:00pm. There is also a choice of nine languages: Maltese, English, Italian, French, German, Dutch, Danish, Spanish and Russian. For further information about this multivision experience please visit the website: www.citadelcinema.com
The Citadel
The Citadel is the medieval fortified town of Gozo and it is the place where the Gozitans used to take refuge from the continuous attacks of the Turks.
On our island, we have had the knights of Saint John of Jerusalem, originally Hospitalers. They had set up hospitals for the Succor of Piligrams visiting the Holy Land. They were a Christian Order and were sent out of Jerusalem by the Muslims. Later on, they were in Rhodes and they were sent out by the Turks in 1522. The Knights went round the Mediterranean for nearly eight years. However, in March 1530, our islands were sealed to the Knights by the Holy Emperor King Charles V of Spain.
When the Knights came to the islands, they chose ‘Birgu’; a town in Malta also known as Vittoriosa as it was closer to the sea rather than Mdina (the capital city at that time). The Knights were still being sought after by the Turks so that is why the Maltese Islands kept having attacks by the Turks.
The Turks under Sinan Pascha attacked Gozo in 1551 and took nearly the whole population into slavery. They killed women and children while taking men as slaves. It is reputed that they took about 5000 into slavery. Then after the Great Siege of 1565, the great battle between the Knights and the Turks, the Knights decided to start fortifying our Islands. They started by building Valletta (the capital city of Malta). Only when Valletta was finished, they turned their attention to Gozo. They fortified the ramparts of the Citadel.
The Citadel was built originally by the Phoenicians. However, the Arabs had pulled down a part of it for better defence and the Knights fortified the ramparts. After that the Knights started to built the watch-towers which were guarded day and night and whenever an enemy shop was seen approaching the Island, signs were given so the people would hide away. The Citadel was the place where the Gozitans used to seek refuge and they were bound by law to spend the nights inside the walls of the Citadel for better protection.
The Citadel was partly destroyed by the earthquake of Catania on 11th January 1693, and partly rebuilt by Lorenzo Gafa under the reign of the Spanish Grand Master Ramon Perellos V Racaful between the years 1697 and 1711.
The main square of the Citadel, houses the most important buildings; The Law Courts, The Bishops Palace and the Cathedral dedicated to the Assumption of Our Lady.
The most important work of art one can find in the Cathedral, is a perspective painting executed by Antonio Manuele in Sicily in 1732 (Trompe L’Oiel). The church was raised to the rank of Cathedral by Pope V1111 in 1864.
The Citadel also houses a number of small museums including the Museum of Archaeology in Bondi’s Palace Museum in a Norman Palace, the Cathedral Museum, The Old Prisions, The Knights Armoury and the Crafts Centre. There is also two small chapels; one dedicated to Saint Barbara and the other dedicated to St. Joseph which withstood the earthquake.
Places of Interests:
- The Citadel
- Knights Armoury
- Museum of Archeology
- Cathedral
- Cathedral Museum
- Gun Powder Magazine
- Old Prison
- Medieval Ruins
- It-Tokk open air local market
- Crafts Centre
- Folkore Museum
- Gozo 3600 Multivision Show
- The Citadel Cinema
- Banca Guiratale
- Courts of Justice
- St. George’s Basilica
- Gozo Archives and Library
Amenities:
- Flea Market
- Internet Café’
- Police Station
- Supermarkets
- Pharmacies
Restaurants, Snack Bars & Wine Bars:
- Magi Wine & Dine
- Palazzo Antonin
- Café’ Jubilee
- Café’ Royal (Cafeteria)
- Grapes
- Tamarisk
- Mc Donalds
- Red-Rose
- Panzier Restaurant
- Brookies Restaurant
- Ta’ Gelmus Restaurant
- Down Town Restaurant
- Eldorado Bar & Restaurant
- It-Tmun
- Hunky Dory
- Victoria Hotspurs Club
- Beehive
- Cordina Café
- Two Brothers
- Café Café
- Labour Party Club
- Central Coffee Shop
- Rikardu
- Bellusa
- Coffee Break
- Cordina Café
- Ta’ Lajku Pizzeria
- Tal-Mewta Winebar
- George’s Winebar
Banks:
- HSBC
- BOV
- APS
- Lombard
Select your next Town or City
Click on the map below for further information regarding towns and cities in Gozo.
