Ta 'Braxia Cemetery
Ta 'Braxia Cemetery ( Maltese Iċ-Ċimiterju ta' Braxia ) is a cemetery in Gwardamanġa on the municipality border between Pietà and Ħamrun immediately in front of the Floriana Lines near Valletta on the Maltese main island of Malta . It was laid out between 1855 and 1857 as a non-denominational burial place mainly for British officials and soldiers to replace the cemeteries such as the Msida Cemetary established by the Kingdom of Great Britain in the 18th century . The site also includes a Jewish burial ground , which was established around 1830.
The opening of the cemetery in October 1857 sparked opposition from the local Roman Catholic incumbents, who opposed the idea of an ecumenical cemetery outside the city.
The landscape architectural design of the cemetery came from the Maltese architect Emanuele Luigi Galizia . The cemetery was expanded in the 19th century and a cemetery church was built between 1893 and 1894, dedicated to the memory of Lady Rachel Hamilton-Gordon. This chapel was designed by the British architect John Loughborough Pearson as a combination of neo-Gothic and neo-Romanesque elements with echoes of neo-Byzantine architecture .
history
Emergence
The first cemetery at this point was the Sacra Infermeria cemetery established in 1778 . It was the first cemetery in Malta to be established outside the city limits. The area included other older cemeteries, including a plague cemetery and the Jewish cemetery founded around 1830. By the middle of the 19th century, the area had become a “heathland, with heaps of rubble and thorns and nettles spreading out […] a fallow cemetery on which not even a central cross or a chapel could be seen, as is customary of the Catholic Church ”.
Around 1850, the British wanted to set up a cemetery that was open to all religions to bury officials and soldiers who had died in Malta, since the Msida Bastion Cemetery was completely occupied. It was decided that the cemetery in Ta 'Braxia should be rebuilt and enlarged. This site was chosen because it was close to the city center of Valletta and the Three Cities . The cemetery was intended for “ for all religions without distinction ” (German: “for all religions without distinction”), but this only referred to the various Christian denominations . Finally, the previously existing Jewish cemetery was included as a separate department in Ta 'Braxia Cemetery. The construction of the cemetery outside the city area was perceived as an attempt to establish a primarily Protestant cemetery.
The cemetery was established to provide a burial site outside the city center for members of the upper class. In the middle of the 19th century, the idea of a cemetery in front of the city was controversial, as the deceased were traditionally buried in churches or chapels. The local officials of the Roman Catholic Church were particularly opposed to this. The idea of a non-denominational cemetery was also rejected.
Building history
The design came from the then 25-year-old Maltese architect Emanuele Luigi Galizia , for whom this was the first public building. Galizia designed two more cemeteries, the Roman Catholic Addolorata Cemetery in Paola and the Muslim Turkish Military Cemetery .
The actual construction of the cemetery began in 1855 with the erection of the surrounding wall. The military authorities had to agree to the plans so that the fortifications would not be affected. The official opening took place in October 1857, about this was not reported in the local newspapers. Changes to an adjacent street led to the relocation of a Roman Catholic burial ground in 1861 and allowed an extension of the Ta 'Braxia . An expansion of the site to the south began in 1879 and a major expansion of the cemetery followed in 1889.
War damage and erosion damaged and destroyed a number of tombstones. Since 2001, the cemetery has been maintained by a volunteer group called Friends of Ta 'Braxia with the support of the Maltese monument protection organization Dín l-Art Ħelwa .
use
In the second half of the 19th century the cemetery was the main burial place of the British garrison. Three victims of the Sardinia disaster of 1908 were also buried here.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission maintains the graves of the fallen of both world wars, which are buried in the cemetery, including five from the first and three from the Second World War.
Nearby is the Pietà Military Cemetery, another war cemetery.
architecture
Landscape architecture
The cemetery is laid out in a checkerboard pattern. The entrance gate leads to a central axis. Originally the system was designed symmetrically, but this form element was lost in later extensions. Inside, transitions separate the individual fields from one another. The cemetery also includes Jewish and Greek Orthodox areas. There is a fountain designed by Galizia on the site.
The entire complex is described as not particularly architecturally outstanding, but contains some remarkable tombs made of stone or marble. The styles range from neoclassicism to neo-baroque to eclecticism . Some tombstones show symbols of Freemasonry .
building
The outstanding structure of Ta 'Braxia Cemetery is the Lady Rachel Hamilton-Gordon Memorial Chapel , which was built in memory of the wife of Sir Arthur Hamilton-Gordon, 1st Baron Stanmore . Lady Hamilton-Gordon fell ill on the journey from Ceylon to Great Britain and died in Malta, where she was buried in Ta 'Braxia Cemetery on January 28, 1889. Sir Hamilton-Gordon commissioned the well-known British architect John Loughborough Pearson to design a memorial chapel for his wife. Pearson likely never set foot in the Maltese Islands, merely drawing up the plans and letting local builders do the work. The foundation stone for the chapel was laid on May 28, 1893; the building was completed in 1894.
The architectural style of the small church cannot be restricted to one style. It combines neo-Gothic and neo-Romanesque elements with echoes of neo-Byzantine architecture . The floor plan shows a central building with a raised dome. The facade contains ornamental structures that contrast with the comparatively simple dome.
literature
- Conrad Thake, Janica Buhagiar: Ta 'Braxia Cemetery . Midsea Books, Valletta 2018, ISBN 978-99957-1170-2 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Charles Savona-Ventura: Knight Hospitaller Medicine in Malta (1530-1798) . PEG Ltd., Malta 2005, ISBN 978-1-326-48222-0 , pp. 60 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
- ^ A b c Charles Savona-Ventura: Contemporary Medicine in Malta (1798–1979) . 2016, ISBN 978-1-326-64899-2 , pp. 89 f . ( limited preview in Google Book search).
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Conrad Thake: Ta 'Braxia Cemetery. An architectural appraisal . In: Treasures of Malta . No. 51 , 2011, p. 10–17 ( online at researchgate.net [PDF; 546 kB ; accessed on April 5, 2020]).
- ↑ a b Malta: historic Jewish cemetery gets clean-up . In: Jewish Heritage Europe , July 25, 2016. Archived from the original on December 14, 2018.
- ↑ a b Malcolm Borg: British Colonial Architecture: Malta, 1800-1900 . Publishers Enterprises Group, 2001, ISBN 978-99909-0-300-3 , pp. 86-87 .
- ↑ a b Daphne Cassar: Did you know that Ta 'Braxia cemetery in Pietà had caused huge uproar? TVM , February 26, 2018, accessed April 9, 2020 .
- ↑ a b c d e f Quentin Hughes , Conrad Thake: Malta, War & Peace: An Architectural Chronicle 1800-2000 . Midsea Books, 2005, ISBN 978-99932-7-055-3 , pp. 72 ( Google Books ).
- ↑ a b c Ta 'Braxia Cemetery, Pieta. Dín l-Art Ħelwa , October 6, 2011, archived from the original on February 15, 2017 ; accessed on April 10, 2020 (English).
- ^ Three main cemeteries in Malta built by the same man. In: The Malta Independent . November 11, 2012, accessed April 10, 2020 .
- ↑ The Tragic end of the 'Maltese Titanic'. In: The Malta Independent . October 7, 2012, accessed April 10, 2020 .
- ↑ Ta Braxia Cemetery. Commonwealth War Graves Commission , accessed April 10, 2020 .
- ↑ George Cini: Message in a bottle. Times of Malta , October 5, 2011, accessed April 10, 2020 .
Coordinates: 35 ° 53 '24.9 " N , 14 ° 29' 56.3" E