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| Introduction | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Nowadays it's fascinating to go anywhere on the globe and zoom down on any particular spot with Google Maps. It's unbelievable how one can demonstrate the exact place one is talking or writing about through this modern technology.
One must admit that a REAL picture here is worth a more than thousands of words..... so the pictures below will serve my purpose of introducing my native town of Hamrun even though I'm working on a computer thousands of kilometers across the Atlantic ocean in Canada! |
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| Malta in the Mediterranean | Central and Harbour area | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| Hamrun among neighbours | Centre with St.Cajetan's church | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| Hamrun is situated just 2.25km from the Capital, Valletta, on the main road to the old city of Mdina. It sprawls over a fairly flat stretch of land except for a hill on its South East side which overlooks Floriana and the entrance to Valletta. South of this hill are Marsa and Qormi while to its North there is Gwardamangia and below that, Msida and Pieta. On its West Hamrun touches Santa Venera which used to be part of its territory. Further West lies Birkirkara. By Maltese standards, it can be easily called a large suburban town, with its main street full of high class shops and restaurants especially from St.Paul square past the Parish Church of St.Cajetan with most of the businesses being commercial or retail. Its streets are fairly straight and wide, again by Maltese standards and compared to those in the older towns surrounding it. In the 18th Century, the area was actually farmland within the jurisdiction of Qormi, Floriana and Birkirkara. In an old diary we find that the well to do used to come here on their carriages, out of the confines of the city of Valletta to enjoy the open air. They had beautiful views of the sea on both sides, on the north Pieta Creek and on the south Ta Cejlu (Marsa) inlet. These people had also built palaces and summer residences in the area. Farmers came this way up to the city with their carts to sell their produce or with their goats to supply milk to the people in Valletta. At this time Hamrun consisted of just a few houses and a small church dedicated to St.Joseph on a dirt road. But the importance of the place was that from here one could (and still can) branch out to other villages or go straight up to the old City of Mdina. |
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| An old painting of the Hamrun area in the mid 19th Century | |||||||||||||||||||||
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