Christine and I love walking up and down all the narrow streets in Sliema, or any town or village in Malta for that matter. For her, it is quite nostalgic. For me, it feeds my snoopiness. They don’t call me “the neighborhood watch” for nothing. I love catching glimpses through windows and doorways of life in Malta. And, once away from the more modern and busy tourist areas, one can walk the narrow streets, see all the Maltese houses of character (realtor speak for original external architecture), and really get a sense of what life might have been like decades ago.
When we visited Malta in 1985, I saw a poster in a shop that was “the doors of Malta.” I wish I had bought that poster as it really pulled me in. This trip, I’m making my own poster in a sense, because I’m photographing Maltese doors, but more interestingly, the il-habbata, the striker, or door knocker. I am in love with the doors and their knockers.
The main door is what catches your eye first when looking at a house. Historically, the front door was always manufactured in two separate parts in a way that each part would open by turning towards the inside on its hinges, and is closed shut by the right hand side overlapping a little on the left side. The material used was always thick red-deal wood (Scots pine) and the door was artistically manufactured with panels and plinths, and more often than not with a weather board at its lower part. The door is painted the same color as the balcony above the front door. On each part of the main door there would be a handle in the form of a knocker (habbata) or a rounded knob.
Most of the houses along the street have one, two or three steps up to the front door. The one step houses do present a bit of a trip hazard as you’re walking down the narrow sidewalk as the step juts out onto the sidewalk. You can tell when an original old Maltese family lives in the house because the sidewalk in front of the step will be wet where someone came out with a bucket and rag and washed the steps and entrance to the house. You don’t see this so much now, but that is one of my memories from 1985, walking down the sidewalk seeing older women bending over washing the steps.
Inside the front door is often a lovely bit of hand-painted Maltese tile, about 2 feet in depth, between the front door and the inner glazed door, called an antiporta. Behind the panes of glass of the antiporta a lace curtain might be found hanging, which one often also sees hanging inside the windows on either side of the front door. This is one thing I like to see during my snooping. I love it when one side of the front door is open and I can see the gorgeous tile and the lovely lace from the inner door.
The door knocker, the striker, il-habbata, is typically brass. There is a matched pair of knockers, one on each half of the door. The most traditional Maltese knocker is that of a stylized dolphin having fleshy lips.
The Maltese dolphin has also evolved into two fish kissing.
Another very common knocker is a lion’s head.
Then there are these figures that remind me of Yoda from Star Wars.
And then there’s the big Yoda knockers that are really ornate with large figures hanging from a rod through Yoda’s mouth.
It seems like there are hundreds of different knockers in Malta and I find at least one new style on every outing along the streets. Here are some of the many and varied knocker styles that have made Malta famous for its il-habbatas.
Sometimes, there are no knockers, but if not, then there’s likely to be a beautiful doorknob or some kind of decorative door panel.
For palaces, like some of the noblemen’s residences in Mdina, one would go all out and buy terrifically artistic door knocker.
So there you have it – Maltese doors and door knockers.