Doorways in the Maltese Islands : a study of form, decoration and symbolism

Abstract

The aim of this dissertation is to create an awareness of the beauty and relative importance of such a simple element as a doorway. Doorways are amongst those meaningful features of life that we see of ten and notice seldom. This dissertation is intended to study the doorway in its entirety, that is both as an element on its own; its function; its meaning; its shape and its decoration; and also to study the romantic relationship between the exterior environment and the doorway and between the doorway and the interior. This dissertation is limited to the doorways of the Maltese Islands, although mention is made to foreign examples which might have influenced the form and decoration of the Maltese doorway. It is important to note that besides the facts which I evolved from my research and which is attributed to other authors, on certain points, I expressed my own thoughts and my own interpretations. The meaning of a symbol to me might convey a different meaning to others, after all a symbol is the creation of the individual mind.