Great Siege Monument

Great Siege Monument
Great Siege Monument
Maltese: Il-Monument tal-Assedju l-Kbir
	The monument in 2017
Artist	Antonio Sciortino
Completion date	8 May 1927
Medium	Bronze
Movement	Neoclassical
Location	Valletta, Malta
	35°53′52.9″N 14°30′45.1″E / 35.898028°N 14.512528°E

The Great Siege Monument (Maltese: Il-Monument tal-Assedju l-Kbir), also known as the Monument to the Fallen of the Great Siege,^[1] is a monument commemorating the Great Siege of Malta located in Valletta, Malta. It consists of three bronze figures symbolizing Faith, Fortitude (or Valour), and Civilization, standing on top of a granite base. The monument is the work of the sculptor Antonio Sciortino, and it was inaugurated on 8 May 1927.^[2]

History

The Great Siege Monument was sculpted by Antonio Sciortino in 1926, while he was in Rome. It was then cast in bronze using the lost-wax method, and the monument was inaugurated in Valletta on 8 May 1927.^[3] During the inauguration, Chief Justice Arturo Mercieca delivered his speech in Italian, while the priest, philosopher and poet Anastasio Cuschieri delivered a speech in Maltese, both in the presence of the British Lieutenant-Governor, Sir Thomas Alexander Vans Best. This illustrated the language question and the political tension of the time.^[1]

The monument is located in Great Siege Square (Maltese: Misraħ l-Assedju l-Kbir)^[3] along Valletta's main road, Republic Street (Maltese: Triq ir-Repubblika) by the side of Saint John's Co-Cathedral.^[4] The monument originally faced Auberge d'Auvergne,^[5] which was replaced by the Courts of Justice building in the 1960s after the original building had been severely damaged in World War II.^[4]

The Great Siege Monument appeared on three Maltese stamps issued in 1956, 1962 and 1972.^[6] It also featured on the Maltese 50 cent coin that was minted from 1972 until it was replaced in 1986.^[7]

The monument was restored between August^[8] and September 2010.^[4]^[9] It is listed on the National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands.^[3]

Since October 2017, the monument has been used as a makeshift memorial to journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia by members of her family and anti-government protesters.^[10]^[11] For a while the tributes were removed on a daily basis by Government employees.^[12] In 2020, a court decision found that the then Minister for Justice Owen Bonnici's orders to repeatedly clear the memorial were a violation of protestors' human rights for the freedom of expression.^[13]

Description

The Great Siege Monument is considered to be a work of Neoclassical sculpture,^[3] exhibiting powerful simple lines which hint at Sciortino's avant-garde style. It has been called "one of the most emblematic sculptures on the island".^[1] The statue consists of three bronze figures set on top of a granite base.^[5]^[3] The positioning of the figures relates closely to Davide Calandra's relief La Glorificazione della Dinastia Sabauda at the Palazzo Montecitorio in Rome.^[1]

The three figures are said to be allegorical representations of Faith, Fortitude (or Valour), and Civilization.^[5] The male figure in the centre is described as Fortitude^[3] or Valour,^[14] and he is portrayed bare-chested and wearing a three-pointed crown and some armour, while holding a sword and a shield. There is a female figure on either side, with Faith on the left and Civilization on the right. Faith holds a papal tiara, while Civilization holds a mask of Minerva, the Roman goddess of Wisdom.^[3]