Malta Heritage and History Book Fair

11/02/2021

Back in January of the year 2000, after many years of neglect and misuse, Notre Dame Gate was passed on to Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna. Unfortunately, the building was in a dilapidated state because during the 1970s and 1980s the gate was used for various purposes that were not compatible with its original use – among them as a carpenter’s shop and as a discotheque. Leaks in the roof had caused extensive damage to the gate. Since then, Notre Dame Gate underwent a facelift. Services were installed, the acute water leakage repaired and it has been made secure against intrusion. Today, the rehabilitated building houses FWA’s headquarters and parts of the building are used by the public.

Notre Dame Gate is one of the original seven gates built along the Cottonera Lines by Grand Master Fra Nicola Cotoner in 1670. It was meant to serve as the principal gate for the south-eastern towns and villages. The gate was named after Our Lady of Graces, the patron saint of Zabbar. It is also known as Cotoner Gate, Zabbar Gate and Bieb is-Sultan. Notre Dame Gate, the highest building in Cottonera, is built on five levels with an elevated gatehouse resting on two massive arcaded flanks each of which were designed to offer bomb-proof cover to anyone taking refuge in them during a bombardment. Above its central section stands a stone niche flanked by stone putti and surrounded by trophies of war in which rests the bronze effigy of Grand Master Cotoner.

Much effort, funds and untold volunteer hours had gone into restoring Notre Dame Gate to what it is today. If you wish to help sustain Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna and the good work which it does, please donate by clicking on the link below.

https://www.paypal.com/donate?token=xQNmjlCYxeKSXtw14LeTBSy75lObI0P4SDkmpKYaAHtU8B05-YN6yA3QjHWoWaIhWkZtg-ZtJI_yYUey

05/12/2020

On this International Volunteers Day we would love to put our enthusiastic volunteer group in the spotlight!

Volunteers have always been at the heart of the work of Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna in caring for nature and history and we are really grateful for your interest in volunteering with us.

The success of Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna is indeed a story of vision and resilience however it would not have been possible had it not received the support of many including generations of volunteers.

At FWA there are many opportunities for volunteering in a wide variety of roles. Get in touch with us and let us know about your skills and interests. Let us know what you can offer and we will discuss which roles might be best for you.

02/10/2019

The preparations for the third edition of the Heritage and History Book Fair at Notre Dame Gate are almost complete. Make sure to visit Malta's biggest History book fair between the 3rd and 6th of October.

For more info please click on the events link on our FB page.

10/10/2017

Books, Books and some 3,000 of them for the Heritage & History Fair at Notre Dame Gate, Vittoriosa from organised by Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna with the support of the Malta Tourism Authority. Thursday 12 & Friday 13 (3.00 t0 9.00pm) and Saturday 14 & Friday 15 (10.00 till 9.00pm). more info. in previous www.wirtartna.org. Please support this event by sharing it with family and friends.

Books, Books and some 3,000 of them for the Heritage & History Fair at Notre Dame Gate, Vittoriosa organised by Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna with the support of the Malta Tourism Authority. Thursday 12 & Friday 13 (3.00 t0 9.00pm) and Saturday 14 & Friday 15 (10.00 till 9.00pm). more info. www.wirtartna.org. Please support this event by sharing it with family and friends.

17/09/2017

As part of the Notre Dame Gate Book Fair, Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna is pleased to invite you to the following public lecture in English by Dr William Zammit about his recently published book Kissing the Gallows – A cultural history of crime, torture and punishment in Malta 1600-1798.’ This public event is being held on Thursday 12th of October at 6.30 pm at the Cantina Nicolo, Notre Dame Gate, St. Edward’s Street, Vittoriosa.

This book is not for the squeamish. Nor does it claim to be a complete historical record of crime and punishment taking place in seventeenth and eighteenth-century Malta.

The present publication is the result of various research visits to the Vatican Archives spread over ten years or so and of going through some 200-odd volumes of correspondence and miscellaneous documentation, comprising many thousands of manuscript folios and varying from beautifully clear handwriting to the nightmarish.
True, daring and often dramatic episodes of crime have always attracted the attention of contemporary eyewitness observers. Perhaps even more magnetic was the spine-chilling retribution meted out by authority. Tucked away safely in the role of mere observers, whether of the moralistic self-righteous and indignant sort or simply as welcome spectators of the exercise of State or ecclesiastical power over errant subjects, they have left us a considerable corpus of primary source evidence of what they witnessed, in the form of diaries, letters and descriptive accounts from the period. A whole world later and from the comfort of our technologically-overloaded homes, it is our turn to be the privileged and willing spectators of history – buffered and secure as we are – against the horrors they describe, thanks to the distance of a few centuries.

‘Kissing the Gallows' books will be available for purchase and signing after the talk.

Entrance for this event is free but pre-booking is advisable to secure a seat. Bookings can be made by sending an email to [email protected]

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Since graduating B.Ed. (Hons) in 1987, William Zammit has taught or lectured at primary, secondary, junior college and university levels. In 1988 he was awarded the Diploma in Library and Information Studies by the University of Malta. In 1995 he graduated M.A. History with Distinction and in 2001 he obtained his Ph.D in the same subject. He is currently a Senior Lecturer, having been Head of Department of Library Information and Archive Sciences within the Faculty of Media and Knowledge Sciences between 2008 and 2013.

Zammit's major research projects have included the cataloguing of the Archive of the Order of St John for microfilming purposes. This project was carried out between 1993 and 1999 in conjunction with the Hill Monastic manuscript Library of St John’s University, Minnesota, USA. Between 2003 and 2008 Zammit worked on the bibliographic description of the Albert Ganado cartographic collection which was subsequently passed over to Heritage Malta.