Places of Interest

The famous painter Mattia Preti, Cavagliere di Grazia of the Order of Knights of St. John known also as il Calabrese, lived in Malta from 1661 until his death in 1699. He spent a number of years in Zurrieq, where he moved in from Valletta to avoid the Great Plague. This year Malta is celebrating the 300th Anniversary of the death of this great artist.

 

He painted most of his great works at No 4 Triq il-Fjuri (Flowers Street) in Zurrieq. Nowadays this historical building houses the training offices of the Local Council.

 

The Armoury Palace - l’Armerija – was built towards the end of the XVII Century and was used to house the armoury under Grand Masters Pinto, Ximenes and de Rohan. At the back of this palace there is a tower which still stands. In 1784 the building was sold to Saverio Verario Crispo. Later on, the palace was owned by the Zimmermann Barbaro Family who invited Napoleon Bonaparte in during his visit to Zurrieq. During the Second World War it was used by the Hampshires Regiment and then by the Royal Air Force. After the war ownership of the palace was passed to Count Chapelle Paleogo.

As its name indicates this palace is found in the Nigret area. It was built circa 1715 for Commendatore Fra Giacobo Togores de Valemuola who belonged to the Langue d’Aragona. The premises are three storeys high. The Benedictine monks took it over in 1883 but left after 2 years. Some of the paintings found in the top floor is attributed to them. Nowadays the palace serves as the convent of the Nuns of St. Therese.

This tower is one of thirteen towers guarding the coast around the island, built by Grand Master Martino De Redin during 1659

Bubaqra Tower, built in the 16th century, was not meant to be part of the defence system of the island, although it is said that for some time it was actually used as such. The way it is constructed shows that it was originally meant to be a countryside residence.

 

According to Chev. Guze Galea 'in 1674, Grandmaster Nicolo Cottoner, built five windmills around Malta. One of these was the windmill built in Nigret, Zurrieq, known tal-Qaret.'

 

After some time, in 1724, Grandmaster re built another windmill next to it, known as ta' Marmara, which was the surname of the first person to work in the same windmill, Luret Marmara.

 

The windmill known as tas-Salib, was built by the Gafa` family, and knows its name to the village cross situated just to the south west of the same windmill.