Msida Bastion Historic Garden

Msida Bastion Historic Garden

Details
Established	1806
Abandoned	1856
Location	, Floriana, Malta
Coordinates	35°53′45″N 14°30′8″E / 35.89583°N 14.50222°E / 35.89583; 14.50222Coordinates: 35°53′45″N 14°30′8″E / 35.89583°N 14.50222°E / 35.89583; 14.50222
Style	Neoclassical
Find a Grave	Msida Bastion Historic Garden

The Msida Bastion Historic Garden, also Msida Bastion Cemetery or Msida Bastion Garden of Rest is a former Protestant cemetery in Floriana, Malta, in use from 1806 till 1856. It was restored and reopened as a garden in 2002. It is listed in the National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands under number 52, as a Grade 1 Monument.

History[]

The Gallows area (Taht il-Forka)^[1] around 1870; the Msida bastion is visible on the left

1930 map by Captain Charles Zammit

The Cemetery lies within the former St Philip’s Bastion, an outer fortification completed in 1653. Under the rule of the Order of Malta, the gallows stood on an area above the site.^[2]

After the British Empire took control of the Maltese archipelago at the beginning of the 19th century, a non-Catholic cemetery for British sailors was laid out in 1806. Later, Anglican and Protestant soldiers, administrative officials, merchants and their family members, as well as other foreigners and some Maltese, found their final resting place there.^[2]

The use of the cemetery ended around 1857 after the Ta' Braxia Cemetery in Gwardamanġa (Pietà) was established.^[3] In the second half of the century, the tombs fell into disrepair, being vandalised and the area became overgrown. In 1930, Captain Charles Zammit reported that most of the inscriptions were damaged and illegible. During the Second World War, the former cemetery also suffered several bomb hits, which damaged several graves and part of the bastion walls.^[2]

In 1988 the then Minister of Education Ugo Mifsud Bonnici promised that the site would be restored and made available as a public garden. It was demarcated by a high wall and a gate to prevent vandalism. The restoration work, which was carried out by volunteers under the responsibility of the National Trust of Malta, Din l-Art Ħelwa (headed by R.G. Kirkpatrick first and then by Andy Welsh), lasted until 2002, when it was awarded Europa Nostra's silver medal.^[2] A small Museum of Maltese Burial Practices was added in 2004 in the former Officers' Stable building.

In 2014 the National Geographic Society named Msida Bastion Cemetery one of the five most beautiful cemeteries in Europe: "Scattered-about benches offer the opportunity for reflection and a tranquil spot to take in the view of sailboats anchored at the marina below, verdant expanses of grass dotted with olive trees, palms, oleanders and ancient pines. Other botanical delights include colourful flower blooms - some visible year-round - such as hibiscus, oleander and blue Mexican petunias.".^[4]

Plants and funerary monuments[]

Thanks to the fertile soil and the protected location, the Garden of Rest has developed into a refuge for plants and animals. Some of the trees there are more than 150 years old.^[3]

At least 528 people were buried here, according to the records. The cemetery was full when it was closed down in 1856. The most elaborate tombs reflect the Neoclassic period in Malta, with ample use of forms taken from Greek and Roman styles (obelisks, pyramids, sarcofagi) and little use of crosses or other Christian symbols.

The most important Maltese buried here is Mikiel Anton Vassalli (1764–1829), the founder of Maltese linguistics. Because he had translated the New Testament into Maltese language against the will of the Roman Catholic hierarchy, the Catholic Church denied him a Catholic burial and he was buried in the Msida Bastion Cemetery. His wife was also buried here in 1851.^[2]

The most important British Navy figure interred at Msida Bastion is vice-admiral Henry Hotham, then Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet who suddenly died at the age of 56 in Malta in 1833 after having served during the French Revolutionary, Napoleonic Wars, and the War of 1812. ^[5] Other British sepultures include Sir Henry Pottinger, first Governor of Hong Kong,^[6] and Charles Harper, magistrate and editor of the Malta Government Gazette.^[7]

An elaborate funerary monument (an exact copy of the Roman tomb of Scipio Barbatus) is that to British diplomat and author John Hookham Frere, and his wife Lady Elizabeth Eroll. Frere's sister Susanna also has a separate memorial grave.^[8] A monument was also erected to Charlotte Hope, daughter of Scottish judge Lord Hope^[9] Another ornate monument is that to Hannah Baker, widow of William Baker of HM Ordnance Dept, who died at 52 in 1834; the monument, with a resting figure covered by a shroud, presents bas-reliefs with the Greek god Morpheus, a winged clessidra and ouroboros, and allegories of her life, and is surrounded by a wrought iron fence with a skull and phoenixes.

The only Orthodox sepulture is the one of Egor Antonovich Schlippenbach, a Baltic German from Livonia, who died on 20 March 1830 at the command of the frigate Alexandra of the Russian Tzarist Navy. His is the oldest Orthodox tomb in Malta.^[10]

A memorial is dedicated to the four seamen killed on board of HMS Castor at the capture of St. Jean D'Acre on the 3rd November 1840, during the second Egyptian–Ottoman War.^[11]

Another memorial (currently under restoration) is to the 61 persons who died, mostly of cholera, aboard the HMQ Queen in 1849-1850. Among them was also Raphaele Fasanelli of Naples, one of the first Italians serving as a Bandsman on a Royal Navy ship.

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  Gravestone of Mikiel Anton Vassalli

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  Tomb of John Hookham Frere and Lady Elizabeth Eroll

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  Tomb of John Hookham Frere and Lady Elizabeth Eroll

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  Tomb of Susanna Frere, sister of John Hookham Frere

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  The Greek-style ornate funerary monument to Hannah Baker, widow of William Baker (1834)

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  Bas-relief of Morpheus, Greek god of dreams

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  Bas-relief with winged clessidra and ouroboros

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  Allegory of Hannah Baker's life episodes

References[]