Victoria is known to one and all as Rabat, meaning suburb, as this city developed as the suburb of the citadel.  The name of Victoria was given to the town in 1887, in honour of Queen Victoria in her jubilee year.

Victoria is the capital of Gozo, which lies precisely in the centre of the island and is the most populated town.  It is the administrative centre, which includes also the main schools, the hospital, and the law courts, serving the island’s community.  Its main square is Pjazza Indipendenza, popularly known as it-Tokk.  The main building on the square is the Banca Giuratale, built between1733-38, formerly the seat of the municipal government of Gozo and presently of the Victoria Local council. An open market is held every morning in this square and several open air cafes are also found here. 

It-Tokk

Republic Street is Victoria’s main street, flanked by shops, banks, theatres, restaurants, Police Headquarters, the Bishop’s chancery and il-Mall or Rundle Gardens. These gardens were laid out by the British in 1910 and house a variety of local and imported trees, an oasis of peace in the centre of the busy town.  Just off the main square in the very heart of the old town, one finds the medieval parish church of St. George Martyr, referred to as the marble basilica, as it is entirely covered in marble.  The present basilica was rebuilt by its supporters after the destruction by an earthquake in 1693.  It has a profusely gilded interior and very impressive is the bronze and gilded canopy over the high altar.  The main attraction is a statue of the patron Saint, St. George, sculpted in wood in 1838. 

An interesting chapel, among the many that are found in Victoria, is the 19th century chapel dedicated to Saint Martha, built in 1859.  During winter months, Victoria bustles with activity from sun rise to sun set.  Shoppers and friends mill around its main streets and quaint side roads, greeting each other, stopping to chat and catch up with the local gossip.  In summer, however it quietens down as most people seek sea breezes in the popular summer resorts.

From Victoria roads radiate in the four directions towards the villages of Gozo.

Citadel the ancient citadel is situated in Victoria and has been aptly called the crown of Gozo.  It was the centre of activity possibly since Neolithic times but it became the focal point of Gozo around 1500 Bc, when it was first fortified by the Bronze Age people. The Phoenicians developed it further and the Romans turned it into their acropolis dominated by a temple dedicated to Juno.  The north side of the present fortifications date from the times of the Aragonese, while the southern flank, overlooking Victoria, was raised by the Knights of St. John Between 1599 and 1603. 

A Street in the Citadel

A visit to the citadel is a must and the fatigue of going up the hill is fully rewarded.  From the fortifications there is a superb view all around the horizon with vistas over the tiny fields cut by yellow stone walls, domes of village churches rising from clusters of houses and the Gordan Lighthouse.

The number of inhabitants in the citadel is less than ten and half the place lie in archaeological ruins which are continuously being restored.  This results from an exodus in the 17th century to more spacious houses in Victoria.  In the other half there is the Gozo cathedral and the Law courts, as well as the cathedral Museum, the Gozo Museum of Archaeology, the Folklore Museum, the Natural History Museum and the Old Prisons.

The most impressive of all is the cathedral, dedicated to Santa Marija, the Assumption.  A centuries-old belief, partly proved archaeologically, noted that a temple to Juno that had existed within the acropolis was rededicated by the early christians to the Blessed Virgin Mary. When the present building was raised between 1697 and 1711, remains of this temple were discovered in abundance.

The cathedral is a fine baroque structure in the form of a Latin cross and is built entirely of the local limestone on a plan by the Maltese architect Lorenzo Gafa’.  Instead of bell towers, a tall campanile with five bells is attached to the north east side.  The interior is very graceful and well-proportioned. A flat ceiling in perspective closes the aperture of the dome.  This ingenious painting, raised in place in 1739, is one of the cathedral’s major attractions and is so convincing that many visitors have to be persuaded that it is not, indeed, a real dome.  The other attraction is the statue of Santa Marija, the Assumption, undertaken in Rome in 1897.  The statue of the Madonna was embellished with a diamond necklace, a gold belt and a solid silver plinth donated by Gozitans who emigrated to the New World and made good.  On 15th August, it is taken shoulder-high in a procession around the streets of Victoria.