COSPICUA (Kospikwa, Bormla or Burmla)

Cospicua, joining Senglea to Vittoriosa at the head of Dockyard Creek, was awarded its title by Grand Master Zondadari because of its part in the Great Siege of 1565, but the truth is that little was there before that time and, being indefensible, all buildings were razed to deny them to the Turks.

Around a chapel dedicated to St. Helen had clustered a few dwellings whose occupants worked on ships at the head of the creek, so giving the name of "Il-Mandra" to the district. After the Siege however the area was developed, fortifications erected and the locality became heavily populated, only to suffer again in the Second World War in common with the other two of the Three Cities.

Cospicua and indeed Senglea and Vittoriosa were protected in the years after the Siege by the building of the Margherita Lines around the hill of that name, but also called the Firenzuola Lines in honour of the Florentine architect Father Marcolana. These were soon recognized to be inadequate and Grand Master Nicholas Cotoner embarked upon the immense Cottonera Lines that extend for five kilometers, designed to protect forty thousand inhabitants but requiring five thousand men to man them, a figure beyond the resources of the Knights. Grand Master Vilhena added the great fort of San Salvador to protect the Vittoriosa land front but it is now still war damaged and derelict after being used as a reformatory. The necessary outworks to the Cottonera Lines were never completed however - though the British added much such as Fort Verdala (today a government housing site) and the St Clement's Retrenchment (now a school) after they occupied Malta and appreciated the vulnerability of the dockyard defenses. These interesting and most impressive constructions erected over several centuries are well worth a visit.

There are several noteworthy entrances through or under the bastions such as the Zabbar Gate and the tunnel from Pawla. Some portals however are not easily accessible or have long been blocked up and disused and many curtain walls breached by modern roads.

The centre of the old community was the market place, "Is-Suq," that developed near the dockyard but today a large street market operates on the edge of the town towards Zabbar. The majestic Parish Church of the Immaculate Conception was built in 1637 to the design of Giuseppe Bonnici; ceiling decoration by Giuseppe Cali. A statue of the Virgin dating from 1670 was traditionally carved from the trunk of a tree that grew on the site and the carving of religious statues is a strong local tradition. It is planned that the ugly wall hiding the dock area developed in 1885 that isolates today's Cospicua from its creek will soon be removed to restore a sea front, but meanwhile the place remains a quiet residential area.

Cospicua then has experienced great suffering and neglect but steps are at last being taken to revitalize an historic area and make the scene within the bastions as attractive as the view from them over the docks and surrounding countryside.

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