Emanuele Luigi Galizia

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Emanuele Luigi Galizia as Superintendent of Public Works in 1880

Emanuele Luigi Galizia ( English Emmanuel Lewis Galizia ; born November 7, 1830 in Malta , † May 6, 1907 in Valletta ) was a Maltese architect and civil engineer who designed many public buildings and a number of churches in Malta. He is considered to be the most important Maltese architect in the second half of the 19th century . His buildings are attributed to the style of historicism .

Life

According to family tradition, the Galizia family came from Galicia on the Iberian Peninsula . Emanuele Luigi Galizia's grandfather came to Malta from Marseille .

Galizia graduated from the University of Malta with a degree in architecture and civil engineering . As early as 1846 he entered the government service of the Maltese archipelago, which was under British rule at the time, as an assistant to William Lamb Arrowsmith . In 1856 he became perito of the government and four years later head of the periti , as such he was responsible for all public buildings on the archipelago.

After Cyprus was taken over by the British in 1877, Galizia, together with Sir Adrian Dingli and other Maltese, was tasked with exploring the possibilities of colonization for the Mediterranean island newly acquired by the Empire ; he wrote a detailed report on this mission, which was later published in print.

Emanuele Galizia became Superintendent of Public Works in 1880 , which was connected with a seat in the "Legislative Council", a state parliament.

In 1886, Emanuele Luigi Galizia became a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers and in 1888 he was admitted to the Royal Institute of British Architects . In the same year, at the behest of the government, he made a trip through Italy, France and England so that he could complete his knowledge of neo-Gothic architecture. It is believed that he even worked as a consultant in the construction of Tower Bridge in London, completed in 1894, and the restoration of the Victorian-style Brighton Pavilion .

Even in his retirement, which he took up in 1888, Galizia continued to work as an architect. In 1902 he designed a church in San Pawl il-Baħar . He died in his townhouse in Valletta and was buried in the grave chapel of the Galizia family, which he himself designed, in the Addolarata cemetery in Paola .

Appreciations

Pope Leo XIII. Emanuele made Luigi Galizia a knight of the Order of Gregory . In recognition of the planning for the Turkish Military Cemetery in Marsa , Sultan Abdülaziz , who commissioned this military cemetery , awarded him the Mecidiye Order on the occasion of a visit to Malta in 1867 .

The Obituary of the Institution of Civil Engineers published in 1907 extolled him

"Tact and affability [which] endeared him to the whole community, whilst the ability and thoroughness which he displayed in all his work gives him a permanent place in the record of professional achievement in Malta."

"The tact and sociability [which] made him popular in his environment, while the skill and thoroughness that he showed in each of his work give him a permanent place in the memory of Malta's professional successes."

Act

In his architectural work, Emanuele Luigi Galizia used unusual “Moorish” elements such as horseshoe arches , arabesques and openwork surface ornaments on buildings at the entrance to the main street of Sliema . These three terraced one-story houses were Sliema's first formally planned residential buildings. He also designed a police station and fountain in Sliema.

Although often committed to neo-Gothic - this is due to one of his major works, the cemetery church Our Lady of Sorrows in the Addolarata Cemetery in Paola - he took on architectural influences from all regions of the British Empire.

Private life

Emanuele Luigi Galizia was married to Victoria Vella, the couple had five children, two sons and three daughters. The eldest son, James Galizia, succeeded his father as Superintendent of Public Works , later Secretary of State for Finance in the colonial administration of Malta.

The second son, Godwin Galizia, also an architect, became known for the neo-Romanesque church buildings in Birżebbuġa and Sliema, but was overshadowed by his father until modern times. Godwin was commissioned by wealthy Maltese middle-class families to erect tombs, mausoleums and memorial chapels in the Addolorata cemetery designed by his father.

One daughter, Giovanna, married the constitutional lawyer and law professor John Caruana, a son of the Maltese archaeologist Antonio Annetto Caruana . Their descendants were called Caruana Galizia.

Works (selection)

The following list represents a selection from the architectural work of Emanuele Luigi Galizia.

Neoclassical buildings

Neo-Gothic buildings

Buildings in the Moorish style

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Mark Geoffrey Muscat: Maltese Architecture 1900-1970: Progress and Innovations . Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti, Valletta 2016, ISBN 978-99909-3-206-5 , p. xv .
  2. ^ A b c d Robert Galea-Naudi: Emmanuele Luigi Galizia (1830–1906): A Brief Biography. victorianweb.org, May 9, 2017, accessed on May 21, 2020 (English, the year of death 1906 in the title was mistakenly taken from Grace's Guide, as can be seen from the further text).
  3. ↑ a b c d Michael J. Schiavone: Dictionary of Maltese Biographies . tape 2 : G-Z. Pubblikazzjonijiet Indipendenza, Pietà 2009, ISBN 978-99932-91-32-9 , p. 890-891 .
  4. ↑ a b c Emmanuel Lewis Galizia. In: Grace's Guide to British Industrial History. June 17, 2015, accessed on May 21, 2020 (English, obituary from 1907 of the Institution of Civil Engineers . The year of death is here erroneously given as 1906).
  5. ↑ a b Derek Moss: Sliema's Built Heritage. Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar (FAA), November 16, 2017, accessed on May 21, 2020 .
  6. ^ Mark-Anthony Falzon: A study in Orientalist architecture. The Times of Malta , November 20, 2016, accessed May 21, 2020 .
  7. ^ Paul Caruana Galizia: The Economy of Modern Malta: From the Nineteenth to the Twenty-First Century . Springer, 2016, ISBN 978-1-137-56598-3 , pp. 139 (English, limited preview in Google Book search).
  8. ^ Giovanni Bonello: The rise and fall of the Britannia Circus in Floriana. The Times of Malta , October 1, 2017, accessed May 21, 2020 .
  9. ^ Giovanni Bonello: Nostalgias of Malta: images by Modiano from the 1900s . Fondazzjoni Patrimonu Malti, 2010, ISBN 978-99932-7-316-5 , p. 98 .
  10. ↑ Andre Zammit: I Forgot! Books Distributors Limited, 2013, ISBN 978-99957-3393-3 , pp. 120 ( online ).
personal data
SURNAME Galizia, Emanuele Luigi
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Galizia, Emmanuel Lewis (English)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Maltese architect and civil engineer
DATE OF BIRTH November 7, 1830
PLACE OF BIRTH Malta
DATE OF DEATH May 6, 1907
Place of death Valletta