Il-Gallarija Maltija - The Maltese Balcony

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Here is a short documentary which I have produced on the Maltese Balcony. Below is the translation of the Maltese commentary.

The old streets of the Maltese towns and villages form an important part of the Maltese landscape. In these streets, which are set around the local church, one can find houses constructed in yellow stone which continue to adorn the beauty of the Maltese typical environment.

The facade of the traditional Maltese house brings together the use of the yellow stone in the building and the use of wood for the apertures. Infact, although today steel and aluminium are also used frequently, the wooden main door is still very popular in Maltese houses. In some old houses you still find that door with the old knob or knocker (“ħabbata”), the persian windows and the characteristic that distinguishes itself most, the closed wooden balcony which one can still find in every corner of the Maltese islands.

It is believed that the first open balconies constructed completely of stone started to appear in Malta in medieval times. However their popularity started to decrease giving way to another closed style which could guarantee more security for houses. But with the arrival of the Order of the Knights of St John, in the sixteenth century, the open balcony once again became very popular with the Maltese.

Probably the first closed wooden balcony appeared in about the year 1697 when the balcony which was constructed at the corner of the Grand Master’s Palace in Valletta was covered with a wooden and glass structure thus joining all the rooms at the side of the Palace.

Many historians sustain that the first closed balconies were simply an addition of the upper part to the lower stoned basis of the open balcony which already existed. It was when the wooden lower part replaced the stoned basis with panels of the same style that finally led to the wooden closed balcony which we see today. Therefore the design of many facades built in the baroque period was not meant to include a closed wooden balcony. It was only in the buildings that were constructed afterwards that this primary element was included in the original design of Maltese buildings.
Today the closed wooden balcony is found mostly in the old parts of the towns and villages. A closed balcony requires great skills especially when it is to be fixed in its place and today it is very hard to find skilled tradesmen who are willing to perform this special operation.