Stone Buildings in Medieval Mdina, Malta

The scope of this contribution is to highlight the presence of some surviving stone houses in the walled citadel of Mdina, built in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. These Medieval buildings, the only examples of their "genre" in the Islands of Malta, reflect the indigenous and primitive limestone constructional methods used in the Maltese countryside. They also reflect, however, the imported approaches to planimetry, elevations and architectural ornament used by the Christian and Muslim cultures of the Mediaeval Mediterranean, this being understandable in view of Malta's strategic position in the Sicily-North Africa channel. It is therefore probable, that the key to the proper understanding of the underlying inspiration concerning the later vernacular architecture of the Maltese countryside lies in an evaluation of these humble Mdina houses, this being the theme which will be explored in my contribution.