The administration of the Order's bakery : some preliminary observations

Abstract

Notwithstanding the voluminous published works on early modern Valletta and its environs, the history of the Order's bakery has so far received very little attention. In reality, the bakery could be seen as an ancillary building whose function was justified only when contextualised against the various military and functional necessities of the Order of St John. In fact, the bakery did not enjoy the aesthetic beauty or grandeur of other impressive structures built within the planned city. One could only imagine an interior of sizable rooms adorned by soot-covered walls and flour-dusted cobwebs hanging from ceilings, a sharp contrast to the exquisite interiors of several buildings sponsored by an Order of noble princes hailing from different parts of the European mainland. What remains of this idyllic past is the name of a street, meaningful to anyone in their late eighties who might recall the edifice prior to its demolition. This past was momentarily rekindled some months ago when street works unearthed parts of its foundations, the beginnings of the largest complex of bread producing ovens in early modem Malta.