Wash house (Fontana)

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The wash house in Fontana

The wash house or The Great Source ( Maltese L-Għajn il-Kbira , English Wash-house ) is a culturally and historically significant building in Fontana on the island of Gozo, which belongs to Malta . It stands on Pjazza l-Għejjun , near the road from Victoria to Xlendi Bay , and is listed under number 4 in the National Inventory of Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands .

description

Interior view (2019)

The building consists of a single cave-like room, the arches of which are listed over a spring from which the residents of the place drew their drinking water and where the washerwomen worked. The purpose of the building was to protect the workers there from the scorching summer sun as well as from the cold northwest winds of the Maltese winter.

Inside, the water flowing from the spring is directed into stone troughs. There are three coats of arms made of stone on the front wall . The middle shield shows the coat of arms of Grand Master Gregorio Carafa , the left the coat of arms of the Azzopardi family, and on the right the coat of arms of the Universitas , the Maltese government under the grand masters, which took care of the water supply. There is an inscription on the walls made of coral limestone , reminding of the building.

Gaetano Mifsud bought the wash house at an auction on July 28, 1776. Today (2019) it is owned by the Government of Malta.

history

The building was built around 1685 by the priest Gasparre Azzopardi, the holder of the benefice Tas-Saqqaja and the source was. However, the spring was protected by an arch-like structure as early as the end of the 14th century, as evidenced by a document from 1373. Works from 1597 also prove the existence of a previous building.

Web links

Commons : Wash house (Fontana)  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d L-Għajn il-Kbira / Wash-house. (PDF; 609 kB) In: National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands. Sovrintendenza tal-Patrimonju Kulturale, December 16, 2011, accessed on December 17, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Journal of Maltese Studies , 23-24 (1993) 37 (English)

Coordinates: 36 ° 2 ′ 13.8 ″  N , 14 ° 14 ′ 7.2 ″  E