Taras Shevchenko

The Siege of Malta was a significant military event in the Mediterranean Theatre of World War II that occurred between 1940 and 1943 on the island of Malta. The siege was conducted by Italian and German(Axis) military aircraft and ships. Malta was one of the most intensively-bombed areas during war – a total of 3,000 raids occurred during the two years of the siege. During the siege, 1,493 civilians died and 3,674 were wounded. Between June 1940 and December 1942 the RAF fighters claimed some 863 Axis aircraft shot down (true losses were around 570 aircraft in action) for the loss of 289 Spitfires and Hurricanes in action, and some 844 aircraft of all types lost to all causes in the air and on the ground. The Luftwaffe alone claimed some 446 Allied aircraft (of all types) shot down.(more...)

Victoria (also called Ir-Rabat) is the capital of Gozo, an island of the Maltese archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. The town has a total population of 6,414 (Nov 2005), by population is the largest locality in Gozo.

Victoria is the name given in 1887 by the British government on the occasion of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, at the request of the Bishop of Malta, Mons. Sir Pietro Pace. However it is often still referred to by Gozitans by its old name, Rabat. The area around Victoria, situated on a hill near the centre of the island, has been settled since Neolithic times. (more...)

A luzzu (pronounced loot-su in Maltese) is a traditional type of fishing boat from the Maltese islands. Traditionally, they are brightly painted in shades of yellow, red, green and blue, and the bow is normally pointed with a pair of eyes. These eyes may be the modern survival of an ancient Phoenician custom (also practiced by the ancient Greeks); they are sometimes (and probably inaccurately) referred to as the Eye of Horus or of Osiris.

• ...that Malta was the most heavily bombed place on earth, and that more bombs fell on Malta than on the English industrial town of Coventry?

• Ġgantija
• Ħaġar Qim
• Hypogeum of Ħal-Saflieni
• Mnajdra
• Megalithic Temples of Malta
• Valletta