‘Imnarja’ House

Next to the Basilica of St. Peter and St. Paul we find an interesting building that demonstrates the various building methods used locally over the centuries.

The Shop – From the outside it looks like a small room, with a door on its side that opens onto the 28 April 1688 square and a small window for air.

Inside, three types of building styles can be seen. First of all, on the inside we find a small room that used to be a wine shop and connected to it we find a very small room from which the customer was served and in which they used to put the wine for sale and other things. The shop is a very old building and dates back to the seventeenth century. The walls of this time are built with mortar consisting of pieces of stone, rubble and shingles. Resting on it are the arches that hold the roof of the tiles. We also find another style in this room. On the right, it seems that the building was added later as the house ‘Imnarja’ was being built.

The house – although it is also old, is much more recent than the shop. It probably dates back to the late nineteenth or twentieth century. Known by the locals as ‘Taż-Żarmuġa’, the nickname of the people who used to live in it. From the outside, it has a traditional facade with a door and a window. From the inside, a corridor, two rooms and a door leading to the shop and another leading to the large courtyard below. Then you go up a staircase and find yourself in the attic room. The house was purchased together with the shop by the parish of St. Peter and St. Paul a few years ago in the parish of Archpriest Mons. Salvu Muscat, and at the beginning of the parish of Archpriest Mons. Jimmy Xerri it began to be restored for use.

On the left side of the house, we find a niche at the top. This is a sizeable niche and in it there is an image of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, a very old image, with a tombstone below it, as there used to be under other ancient niches on which is written that whoever says the ejaculatory prayer wins an indulgence.

Writing and research: Daniel Meilak B.A. (Hons)
Photos and Videos: Darren Cassar