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11 November 1908 — San Antonio Palace, Malta | |
Wednesday. 11th November [1908]. This morning we all drove in to Valletta in the 2 motor cars to the Palace there—a very fine building—once the headquarters of the Order of St John’s & now where are all the Chief Govt offices besides that the Connaughts have there a fine apartment. There are to be seen there the portraits of all the Grand Masters of the Order—the Armoury, Council Room, hung with fine Gobelins—the great hall now being arranged for a ball room– The corridors are fine & handsomely decorated, the floors are paved with fine marbles—the friezes of the room painted in fresco with interesting events of the history of the order. The whole is fine & bears witness to the taste & richness of the G. Masters. We went in to the Ball room which is being done up—the ceiling repainted over which a confab was held– Some former Govr had lowered the room & put in a false ceiling which cut in half a fine wide frieze in fresco wh runs round the room. This is interesting as representing episodes in the history of Malta—the frescos had been much destroyed in the process & had to be restored—this was done by an Italian workman who is now decorating the ceiling. He has done it according to his lights—& the result is naturally that they are heavily repainted—nothing but the drawing being original. We drove back to San Antonio to lunch & in the afternoon drove out again to the Marsa to see a game of Polo. It is there that has been made the recreation ground of the officers of the army & navy & one sees golf, polo, croquet & lawn tennis. It was very warm & pleasant but the sun sets abt 5 & we came home & had tea in the Connaughts private sitting room & then retired to our rooms till dinner. In the eveng we went to the theatre at Valletta & saw the opera “Andre Chenier” by Giordano in the Mansel theatre. It was well given & the prima donna has a very fresh if untrained voice—Ravaglia is her name. The theatre is the oldest one existing in the world, never having been burned down or rebuilt. It is small & clean looking—elliptical in shape—& the stage is so small that the scenery has to be brought in from the street & nailed into place between the acts. The house was not very full—there being another opera going on at the Theatre Royal—& Malta is too small a place to make them both pay. The piece was not very long & we got back to San Antonio soon after 11– | |
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