I shouldn’t really be getting questions wrong about sites I’ve visited, but it just shows I need to pay more attention. Then again, I can never remember the name of Hagar Qim despite it leaving a vivid impression.
Questions
If you draw a suspiciously neat diagram showing the cardinal directions of the ‘Winds of the Mediterranean’ it could lie between the northerly tramontane and the easterly levante. Its starting point the island of Zakynthos, what name is given to a north-easterly wind that most often hits Malta during the winter months?
GREGALE
Maltese architect Girolamo Cassar designed which Valletta building that served as the home of Malta’s parliament up until 2015? It is named for the role held by Ferdinand von Hompesch zu Bolheim when he passed control of the country over to the French in 1798.
GRANDMASTER’S PALACE
Designed as part of Valletta’s wider City Gate Project, Malta’s Parliament House features an exterior that shows off Gotzian limestone around a modern design that is the brainchild of which 1998 Pritzker Prize winner?
RENZO PIANO
The Maltese flag contains a George Cross in its top left-hand corner that contains which two words around a depiction of St George battling a dragon?
FOR GALLANTRY
Five guard towers appear at the top of the Maltese coat of arms, these being a type of vedette that is known by what Maltese term?
GARDJOLA
Music for the Maltese National Anthem “L’Innu Malti” was composed by Robert Samut, with which ‘Bard of Malta’ providing the lyrics? Originally his works being written in Italian, he is best known by a name different to that of his birth.
DON KARM / CARMELO PSAILA (Birth name)
A small island or pair of islands that lie a short distance from the north coast of Malta are named for which saint who was possibly shipwrecked in the area? A coastal town between Valletta and Mellieha is also named for this holy figure.
ST. PAUL (The town being St. Paul’s Bay)
Son of a former president with the first name George, who became Prime Minister of Malta in 2020? He took over from Robert Muscat after that leader stepped down in the aftermath of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination.
ROBERT ABELA
Muslim rule in Malta ended in 1091 when which Grand Count of Sicily carried out a successful invasion for the Duchy of Normandy? The successor to Robert Guiscard, traditional claims that the red and white of his House of Hauteville influenced the colours for the Maltese flag are considered to be a possible fabrication.
ROGER I
From 1654 to 1967 Malta was home to which branch of the Royal Navy, with Horatio Nelson and ‘ABC’ Cunningham among those who’ve been its Commander-in-Chief?
MEDITERRANEAN FLEET
Found in the town of Paola, what type of subterranean structure provides one of Malta’s World Heritage Sites? Preceded by the words Hal Saflieni in the UNESCO listing, the term means ‘underground’ in Greek.
HYPOGEUM
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