The built environment in Gozo : a historical review

Abstract

The history of the making of buildings and of combining these buildings into compact human settlements of a fortified or unfortified nature is a fascinating subject, more so when the environment concerned is that of a small Mediterranean island composed of sedimentary rocks which since time immemorial have provided the main building material which was creatively used by the inhabitants and their architects to produce architecture. The scope of the present contribution is to introduce the reader to the architecture of Gozo seen as history arrested in stone, as the slow movement of time congealed in such a way that at every point a particular form of building, a particular type of settlement pattern expressed the needs and the character of its age. Considered from this angle, one can define the primary purpose of this contribution as being that to gain an understanding of the architecture of Gozo as it relates to the geography of the island and the history of its people - in short, a documentation of how various types of buildings and settlements in Gozo have historically arisen and, sometimes, disappeared into oblivion as a direct response to particular geographic, social, political and economic conditions.