Malta's secret tunnels: inside the newly discovered underworld of Valletta

by Guest Mon Feb 27, 2017 2:11 pm

When Albert Dimech recognised us, rather than introducing himself, he simply said: “Follow me.”

Dimech had asked the artist Leanne Wijnsma and me to meet him in the centre of Valletta, Malta’s capital city and the European capital for culture in 2018. Wijnsma had been commissioned by the Valletta 2018 foundation to create a piece of artwork about the city’s subterranean world, and Dimech was our point of contact.

We arrived a few minutes late and out of breath, veering past tourists eating ice cream in the sun and taking photos of the dense vertical houses. Dimech immediately marched us toward the Malta Law Courts, where, to the dismay of the guards, he picked up a phone from behind the security desk and had an energetic conversation in Maltese that somehow secured access to the building.

He took us to the bin room where he kicked aside trash bags and cardboard boxes to reveal a tight, spiral staircase. “They only discovered this tunnel a few years ago,” he said as he descended. Where the torchlight bounced off the walls, we could see the indent of hundreds of thousands of rock pick swings, conjuring ghostly images of labourers excavating during the second world war – frantically carving out shelter for a populace reeling from the fierce aerial bombings by Mussolini and later, Hitler.

At the bottom of the staircase, we found ourselves standing in a foot of water. “There used to be a drainage system here – see the channels along the sides?” he said. “But it doesn’t drain so well any more. Your shoes are ruined.” Indeed, they were.

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/feb/20/malta-secret-tunnels-inside-newly-discovered-underworld-valletta

by Original Quill Mon Feb 27, 2017 4:08 pm

Fabulous photos.

by Guest Mon Feb 27, 2017 4:10 pm

Original Quill wrote:Fabulous photos.

Its a beautiful and wonderfully historic place Quill. Smile

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Malta's secret tunnels: inside the newly discovered underworld of Valletta

Malta's secret tunnels: inside the newly discovered underworld of Valletta

Re: Malta's secret tunnels: inside the newly discovered underworld of Valletta

Re: Malta's secret tunnels: inside the newly discovered underworld of Valletta

Re: Malta's secret tunnels: inside the newly discovered underworld of Valletta