Comino

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Comino
Blue Lagoon (Gozo in the background)
Blue Lagoon (Gozo in the background)
Waters Mediterranean Sea
Geographical location 36 ° 0 ′ 40 ″  N , 14 ° 20 ′ 19 ″  E Coordinates: 36 ° 0 ′ 40 ″  N , 14 ° 20 ′ 19 ″  E
Comino (Malta)
Comino
length 2.6 km
width 2.1 km
surface 3 km²
Highest elevation Redoubt Hill
75  m
Residents 3 (2017)
1 inh / km²
main place Comino
Satellite image of Gozo (left) and Comino (right)
Satellite image of Gozo (left) and Comino (right)

Comino , derived from the Maltese word Kemmuna ( German  caraway ), is the smallest inhabited island in the Maltese archipelago . It belongs to the municipality of Għajnsielem in the southeast of Gozo . The island can be reached from the ferry ports in Għajnsielem ( Mġarr ) on Gozo and Ċirkewwa on Malta .

geography

Comino is located between the two larger Maltese islands of Malta in the south and Gozo in the north in the Il-Fliegu ta 'Ghawdex estuary, about six kilometers wide . The island is about three square kilometers and a rocky plateau protruding from the sea between ten and twenty meters. The coast drops steeply almost everywhere and is interspersed with numerous caves.

nature

The vegetation on Comino is sparse. Every now and then you come across small Aleppo pines and oleander bushes , only the agaves and prickly pear cacti reach normal dimensions. After a damp winter, the ground can be covered in copious amounts of heather, thyme, and various hard grasses. Comino is also a haven for birds.

history

In ancient times the island was also called "Ephestia". Comino was already settled in the Bronze Age, graves from the Punic - Phoenician era were found on the west coast. In the Middle Ages up to 200 people lived on the island and the caraway, which gave the island its name, was grown . During this time Comino was a base for pirates who found convenient hiding spots on the cave-rich coast. They were driven out by the Johanniter at the beginning of the 17th century . Their grand master Alof de Wignacourt had a watchtower built in 1618, which is now called the Santa Marija Tower. The planning of this tower and the construction supervision have been attributed to the well-known fortress builder Vittorio Cassar since the 18th century (and are still in some travel guides). But this is unlikely due to the sources. In the 18th century the Santa Marija Gun Battery and the Santa Marija Redoute, which no longer exist today, were added. At that time the island had a garrison of 130 soldiers. Comino was a prison island in the 16th and 17th centuries. From 1814 on, the British ruled the Maltese archipelago. They set up a quarantine station for seafarers on Comino.

Buildings on Comino

The island is built on the Comino Hotel with 95 rooms on San Niklaw Bay in the north of the island. It operates its own ferry service to the ports in Mġarr and Ċirkewwa during the season. There is also a holiday bungalow settlement with 46 residential units, the small Annunciation Church on Santa Marija Bay in the northeast, which was built in 1618 and enlarged in 1667 and 1716, and a police station. There is also a public campsite there. A former cemetery, which is surrounded by a high wall, is located in the middle of the island. The most striking building on the island is the St Mary's Tower ( Santa Marija Tower ), a fortress built during the reign of the Order of St. John in 1618. Right next to it is a former quarantine station in which the three permanent residents of Comino live.

Former pig farm

A former pig farm is located in the south of the island. In the 1990s, pigs brought in from Sweden by plane were flown directly there by helicopter for veterinary reasons. Today the site is deserted and no longer used.

Attractions

St Mary's Tower ( Santa Marija Tower ), built in 1618

The Santa Marija Tower is 70 m above sea level, 12 m high and serves as a lookout point with a view of Malta and the " Blue Lagoon ". As early as 1416, the Maltese population asked their then King Alfonso V of Aragon to build a tower in order to have an advance warning system in the event of an invasion by plundering Turks, pirates or smugglers. Two years later, the king imposed a special tax on imported wine to finance the project. The funds went into his own pocket, however, and the island remained undefended for another 200 years. In 1618 the tower was finally built by the Maltese under Alof de Wignacourt with a square floor plan on the southeast side of the island. Before it served as a lookout tower and was restored from 2002, it was owned by the Maltese armed forces .

The " Santa Marija Gun Battery " is a defensive system with four historic cannons that is open at all times. The “Blue Lagoon” is a 120 meter wide passage between Comino and the reef called Cominotto in the west . Here the water is clear as glass and colored in the most varied of turquoise variations. A fascinating natural spectacle is presented to the viewer from the elevated bank.

gallery

  • The Santa Marija Gun Battery on Comino

  • Church on Comino

  • Police station

  • Comino vegetation

  • Former quarantine station

  • Inner part of the former cemetery

and display information about the image
360 ° panorama of Comino at the old cemetery. Left to right: The cemetery wall, Santa Marija Tower, Gozo Island and the Comino Hotel

literature

Web links

Commons : Comino  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Victoria Mallia-Milanes. In Search of Vittorio Cassar. A documentary approach . In: Melita Historica , published by the Malta Historical Society, Vol. 9 (1984), pp. 247-269, here p. 260.