The geological composition of the Maltese archipelago is essentially limestone, made up of sedimentary rock that is very susceptible to erosion. Although in the past some of these buildings were coated or painted, today it is the bare stone that prevails.
This results in buildings with a particular appearance, with the erosion of the stone being exposed in all its irregularity and organicity. At dusk, when the buildings receive the last rays of the sun, the stone shines brightly in a golden color that contrasts with the Mediterranean waters. The military and religious buildings, where the Baroque style prevails, show the marks left by the presence of the Order of Malta in the archipelago.
The marks of the Second World War are also there, although they are more discreet. There are several buildings near the ports that preserve in their stone the effects of the shrapnel bombs that Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany dropped on the territory, which was then under British control. In the residential buildings, the stone contrasts with the colorful wooden enclosed balconies, which vary in color from red, blue, green, yellow, white or purple.
The color of the doors matches that of the balcony and very often the entrances have representations of saints in colored glazed ceramics, signaling the religiosity of the Maltese. The walls of these cities seem silent. But writing on the walls has existed in Malta for many centuries.
It is on the stone that it is engraved, and there it remains everlasting to the passage of time. It takes a keen eye to see and distinguish the graffiti[1] that accumulate on the walls of buildings in Maltese cities. Discreet, small and anonymous, they contrast precisely with the monumentality of the buildings, most of which are public or religious in nature. Graffiti is a building decoration technique with a significant artistic history.
