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10 gozotoday | FRIDAY • 16 AUGUST 2024 CULTURE AUGUST is the month when thousands flock to Gozo for their summer holidays. In between cooling dips in the sea, late night barbecues with friends, and some fun at the village festa, why not dedicate a couple of hours to ap- preciate two historical gems at the Citadel in Victoria? As soon as you step inside the Gran Castello Historic House, nestled inside the impenetrable walls of the Citadel, you'll set foot into a time warp hurtling you three centuries back. Formerly known as the Folklore Museum, this is a cluster of interconnect- ed houses in Bernardo De Opuo Street. While still hosting a range of exhibits illustrating the local domestic, rural and traditional ways of life, this site's set-up is gradually being transformed to reflect a domestic atmosphere and way of life typical of an 18th century urban environment. The architectural features of the interlinked houses betray some Sicilian and Catalan in- fluences and show familiarity with a sophisticated Late Gothic style. Their fine quality reveals that these properties belonged to wealthy families. In 1983 the houses were rehabilitated as a museum. The ground floor and mezza- nine levels of the southern house feature a reconstructed historic house set-up complete with work and habitation spaces for the serving personnel. The remain- ing ground floor spaces in the rest of the residential complex are devoted largely to rural trades and skills, mainly agriculture. A spectacular beast-driven mill oc- cupies the centre of a large mill- room on the same floor. Once the living quarters of the resident wealthy families, the first floor hosts some interesting spec- imens of period furniture besides other items related to important local but mostly domestic crafts, such as lace-making and weav- ing. The latter are accompanied by complementary items like the cotton gin and the spinning wheel. The Gran Castello Historic House offers an additional expe- rience to visitors through an au- dio-visual presentation about the late Medieval set-up of the same house cluster within its contem- porary urban context. Another fascinating time warp inside the Citadel is the Old Pris- on. This is the oldest surviving prison in Gozo and still rever- berates with the memories of nu- merous inmates who incised their mark on the aged walls of its cells and corridors. Presenting the larg- est known collection of historical graffiti in one single place on the Maltese Islands, this site provides an intriguing glimpse into the conditions in which inmates were kept at the time. The prison stands adjacent to the Courts of Justice, to which it was originally connected. In its present form, the prison com- plex is divided into two sections: an entrance hall which originally served as a common cell in the 19th century, and a free-standing block with six individual cells. Soon after their arrival in Malta, the Knights of St John used this prison to intern their rowdy and disruptive members. The list of notorious inmates includes Fra Jean Parisot de La Valette (later, Grand Master of Malta) who, in 1538, spent four months in this prison after attacking a man. Having undergone several structural modifications, this prison was in use from the mid- 16th century until the beginning of the 20th century. From the mid-19th century, it shared its function with another building located on the other side of the Citadel. While the old prison served to house those individuals awaiting trial, the other property was used as the new prison. The latter continued to operate as a prison until it closed down in 1962. Graffiti are certainly the high- light of this site. They include mainly sea vessels and date to different periods. However, visi- tors may also note marks of palm prints, crosses, names, dates, games, and anthropomorphic figures. Some inmates also ap- pear to have scratched a record of their length of stay behind bars. Visit Heritage Malta's website (store section) to acquire Gozo combo tickets which save you time and money and which in- clude the Gran Castello Historic House and the Old Prison. Get caught in a time warp while enjoying Gozo this August! Inside the Gran Castello Historic House (top) and some of the prison graffitti on the walls