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Sliema is a relatively young town; it was still an unnamed stretch of agricultural land up to the nineteenth century.
In stark contrast, the so-called 'Sliema-area' (incorporating the neighbouring towns) is nowadays best known for its touristic activity, with its many hotels, eating places, beaches, entertainment and shopping areas, as well as a lovely promenade stretching all the way from Ta' Xbiex Terrace to Saint Julians's Bay.
Gzira-Sliema Strand
Sliema Hotels
Scenic Balluta Bay
However, a couple of streets away from the luxury apartments lining the very popular Sliema waterfront, from The Ferries (ix-Xatt), all along Tower Road (Ghar id-Dud and Fond Ghadir) and right up to Balluta Bay, one finds a different world where real life goes on. Anyone who truly knows Sliema will tell you that it has a diversity of faces and, like all of Malta's towns and villages, Sliema has its share of different backgrounds, social and economic, despite the erroneous public generalization (inspired by those affecting to be the elitest) that it is a strictly English-speaking neighbourhood of stately houses and high incomes.
The Early Years
Contrary to its present state, the locality we now know as Sliema was once a quiet retreat, the ideal 'summer residence' of people hailing from Malta's more urbanised areas of the ninteenth century; principally the areas around the Grand Harbour. One very distinguished Maltese citizen, among others, who resided at Sliema for considerable periods was Malta's National Poet, Dun Karm, whose house was in Victoria Terrace1.
Winston Zammit (in his informative book: Tas-Sliema fis-Seklu XIX) tells us that during the first quarter of the 1800s, the location was described as a 'marine village', home to just over 300 people. In Sliema's early years we find only a handful of families living in the locality, some earning their living from farming, a few trading as merchants and the rest mostly employed in the services of wealthy Maltese and foreign households.
Perhaps owing to its 19th century British Military connections, most notably at Fort Tigne' which was used for Army Barracks, Sliema also became home to some renown foreign families, amongst which we find that of Charles MacIver (owner of the world famous 'Cunard Line') and of the Prince and Princess of Capua.
But in less than a century, the almost-barren landscape rapidly developed into one of the more populated, if not the most popular, of Maltese towns.
Qui-si-sana Bay
Anglican Church
British-built Fortress
Pretty Houses
Jesus of Nazareth19th Century Gems
The history of this part of Malta is generally linked to the events of the 19th and 20th centuries, when British forces were stationed at Tigne' Barracks (Teeny for some), in the old Fort Tigne' (pron Tin-yeah), at the entrance to Marsamxett Harbour, dating back to the Knights of Saint John. There are other important British military sites just outside Sliema, namely Saint Andrews Barracks, Fort Pembroke and Fort Madliena.
As the area flanks one of Malta's two main harbours, where British warships sheltered during World War Two, a fiery rain of destruction poured upon Sliema and its neighbours; the same ill fate shared by all harbour towns in Malta between 1940 and 1943. After the end of the War, the area -- by then densely populated and already commercialized -- remained popular with many allied servicemen, some of whom frequented the coastal bars for their 'entertainment.'
But not all of the area's history is a mere century old. One of Grand Master de Redin's 13 coastal towers still stands boldly on the Sliema coastline, giving its name to the popular Tower Road. Some 5 more watchtowers are situated along the shoreline from Sliema right up to Qawra point in the island's north.
We speak of the general 'area' when we treat the history of this locality because none of the towns we find today actually existed at the start of the 19th century and so, without today's council boundaries, the place was one broad estate, without distinction, mostly field and rock, sharing one fate.
On Manoel Island, in the suburb of Gzira, one still finds the ruins of the Order's Lazzaretto Hospital as well as the grand Fort Manoel, funded by Grand Master Antonio Manoel de Vilhena (1722-1736). The hospital was used for Quarantine purposes even during British occupation and personalities such as the young Benjamin Disraeli spent their share of time here during their Malta visit. Lord Byron, on the other hand, was allowed to spend his quarantine at Fort Manoel instead, affording them a little more comfort.
Sliema's Old Houses
Pre-War Villa
Pretty Houses
Fond Ghadir Promenade
Sliema Water Distillation Plant
Pretty HousesThe surrounding towns and suburbs include Pieta' and Msida, leading to Ta'Xbiex, Gzira, San Gwann, Kappara, Saint Julian's, Saint Andrew's, Madliena and the oldest of the lot Naxxar. This is perhaps taking things a bit too far, but this page intends to cover all of these relatively linked areas.
All in all, the zone is a nest of yacht marinas, gardens, commercial outlets, promenades, beaches, hotels, night spots, entertainment areas and, yes, plenty of historic sites.
Note: 1 In his letters to 'Karmen Mikallef Buhagar' (published in PEG Ltd's 'L-Ittri ta' Dun Karm lil Karmen Micallef Buhagar', 1997) Dun Karm states his address as 'Dar is-Sliem', 34j Lower Victoria Terrace, changing it in his letter of March 6th, 1952, to 18 (34j) Lower Victoria . . .
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