Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1365202
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 25 APRIL 2021 12 HERITAGE PA declares unique seashell house and early 17th century Barumbara as high protected building A unique, late 19th-centu- ry townhouse in Għaxaq that is decorated in seashells, and an early 17th century domed, round structure in Imqabba have been rubber-stamped as protected Grade 2 and Grade 1 buildings respectively by the Planning Authority. The pro- cess for the scheduling of these two buildings was carried out in close collaboration with the Su- perintendence of Cultural Her- itage. The Għaxaq vernacular town- house, which is close to the Parish Church, has its first floor heavily embellished with various motifs made from ap- plied shells and polychrome render, primarily in red, green and blue. The decorative mo- tifs are mostly religious, but al- so include architectural detail- ing, family crests and lettering. The property includes three niches; the one on the side ele- vation relates to the crucifixion scene, whilst the other two, lo- cated on the main façade, hold the statue of St Joseph and St Andrew. At roof level, a highly elaborate frontispiece capped with finials and a statue of the Virgin Mary, the patron saint of the locality, stands trium- phant. A second, less elaborate frontispiece is located on the side elevation. Mr Martin Saliba, Chair- person of the PA's Executive Council said "The building has a high level of aesthetical sig- nificance in that it is a unique representation of folk art, with no other examples being re- corded. The execution is naïf and stylised as typical of folk art." This Grade 2 property, orig- inally belonging to a certain Indri Dimech, was turned into a huge canvas when in 1898 he started to decorate the façade of his property with hundreds of snails and seashells, from where it later got its name. Al- though no one can say what inspired Indrí Dimech, known as Il-Mikk, to start decorat- ing the façade of his property with hundreds of snails and seashells, some suggest that he might have seen such dec- orations when he was living abroad. The Authority also gave the highest protection status to a domed, round struc- ture in a corner field between Triq Santa Marija and Triq iċ-Ċavi in Mqabba. This ear- ly 17th-century structure was listed in the Order of St. John's archives as part of the sched- uled 'Sptar il-Qadim', which formed part of the Nicola Cot- toner Foundation. Evidence of this can be found in a 1732 map of the estate in 'Tal-Ba- rumbara' whereabouts, found in the Cabreo Cottoner. Mr Saliba added "The site has a high level of historical importance given its historical mentions as a folly in the gar- dens of the Nicola Cottoner Foundation's estates. From an architectural point of view, the dovecote is unique too since such structures were common- ly rectangular and flat-roofed. This dovecote is similar to me- dieval dovecotes found in con- tinental Europe." The building at ground lev- el has a small entrance with a small window above it. At the top of the Barumbara are sev- eral projecting corbels which are symmetrically spaced out. Some of these corbels support stone slabs that bridge one cor- bel to the next. These formed a continuous shelf around the building. The stone slabs have been cut into segments to re- flect the curvature of the cylin- drical form of the structure. Visit www.pa.org.mt to view all scheduled buildings and properties in Malta and Gozo.