Auberge d'Angleterre

Auberge d'Angleterre
Berġa tal-Ingilterra

Auberge d'Angleterre
General information
Status Intact
Address Northwest Street
Town or city Birgu
Country Malta
Completed c.1534
Plaque on Auberge d'Angleterre.

The Auberge d'Angleterre (Maltese: Berġa tal-Ingilterra) is one of the eight auberges built in Birgu, Malta, for the langues of the knights of the Order of Saint John. It housed the langue of England.

The Auberge was built in the early years of the Order's rule in Malta, sometime around 1534. A house was purchased by the knight Sir Clement West from a Maltese woman Catherine Abela. The Auberge began to be built on this site and it incorporated the earlier house. The Auberge has a central courtyard and it was connected to Auberge d'Allemagne through the back part of the building, until the latter was destroyed during the Second World War. The Auberge was located close to the house of Oliver Starkey, one of the last English knights of the Order. No English Auberge was built in Valletta after the Order moved there in 1571 due to the abolishment of the Langue in the English Reformation. The langue was recreated two hundred years later as the Anglo-Bavarian Langue in 1782, when it was housed in Auberge de Bavière.[1]

The Auberge is now used as a public library. Since 2008, the Auberge has also housed a non-governmental organisation The Three Cities Foundation.[2] The building is the best preserved among the five remaining Auberges in Birgu, and it was listed as a Grade 1 national monument on 22 December 2009.[3]

References

  1. ↑ Auberge D'Angleterre. Birgu Local Council, 2010. Retrieved 1 March 2014.
  2. ↑ The Three Cities Foundation - Auberge d'Angleterre. Birgu Local Council, 2010. Retrieved 1 March 2014.
  3. ↑ Vittoriosa’s Auberge D’Angleterre. Times of Malta, 20 November 2012. Retrieved 1 March 2014.

External links