Portal:Malta
The Malta Portal
Malta, officially known as the Republic of Malta, is a small island nation comprising an archipelago of seven islands (Malta, Gozo (Għawdex) Comino (Kemmuna) Filfla, Cominotto (Kemmunett) Manoel, Selmunett (St.Paul's Islands)) in the Mediterranean Sea. A country of Southern Europe, Malta lies south of Sicily, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The country's official languages are Maltese and English. Roman Catholicism is the most practised religion. The islands constituting the Maltese nation have been ruled by various powers and fought over by many states for centuries. Malta has been a member state of the European Union (EU) since 2004 and it is currently the smallest EU country both in population and in area.
Selected ArticleThe Siege of Malta was a significant military event in the Mediterranean Theatre of World War II that occurred between 1940 and 1943 on the island of Malta. The siege was conducted by Italian and German(Axis) military aircraft and ships. Malta was one of the most intensively-bombed areas during war – a total of 3,000 raids occurred during the two years of the siege. During the siege, 1,493 civilians died and 3,674 were wounded. Between June 1940 and December 1942 the RAF fighters claimed some 863 Axis aircraft shot down (true losses were around 570 aircraft in action) for the loss of 289 Spitfires and Hurricanes in action, and some 844 aircraft of all types lost to all causes in the air and on the ground. The Luftwaffe alone claimed some 446 Allied aircraft (of all types) shot down.(more...) Selected Locality Mellieħa (pronounced me-lee-ha), also called Il-Mellieħa, is a large village in the northwestern part of Malta. It is a popular tourist destination during the summer months. Mellieħa as a village developed under the British colonization. The British started proposing people to settle in this area by giving leases to the population. It was only during this time that it started to be inhabited again as for two centuries it was abandoned due to fear from attacks of corsairs and Saracens, and beforehand there were only some villagers used to live in the area. After the British encouraged Maltese to settle in Mellieħa, the village kept on flourishing. Nowadays, the village also includes a large number of villas. Many foreigners choose to settle in Mellieħa. (more...) Selected Picture Photo credit: Väsk
The traditional Maltese balcony, is a wooden closed balcony projecting from a wall. In the case of Valletta, richly decorated balconies also served another purpose. One of the building regulations laid down by the knights for their new city was that blocks had to display some form of sculptural ornamentation at the corners. These ornamentations took three distinct forms. They were either niches with religious images, monumental pilaster and cornices that complimented the architectural style of the elevations or balconies that wrapped themselves around the block. Such balconies can be observed all around Valletta. Examples of these are the side wooden balconies of the Grand Master's Palace, which were in place by 1741. Did you know
UNESCO World Heritage SitesCategories Select [►] to view subcategories
Malta topicsRelated PortalsThings You Can Do
Geography stubs · People stubs · Malta stubs in general
Help us categorize Maltese-related articles
Have a look at WikiProject Malta. Wikipedia in Maltese
Associated WikimediaThe following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:
Discover Wikipedia using portals | ||||||
