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Gnejn Kottoner (Kottoner Gardens), Bormla
Gnejn Kottoner, also known as Kottoner Gardens, is a public green space located in the town of Bormla (also known as Cospicua), Malta. Originally intended as a recreational garden for the residents of the Cottonera area, it has seen periods of neglect but is currently the focus of major regeneration efforts under a national urban greening initiative.
History
The garden was inaugurated in 2007 as part of an effort to provide Bormla residents with an accessible and peaceful recreational space. However, in the years that followed, Gnejn Kottoner fell into disrepair. Reports and video footage from 2018 showed that the park had become overgrown and littered with debris, with broken pathways and deteriorated landscaping.[1]
Regeneration Plans
Gnejn Kottoner is now being redeveloped as part of a broader green initiative by Project Green, which involves the transformation of over 135,000 square metres of urban space in various Maltese localities, including Fgura, Bormla, Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq, and Birżebbuġa.[2]
The upgraded Gnejn Kottoner will feature:
- Cycling tracks
- Dog-friendly zones
- Community gardens
- Picnic areas
- A children’s play area
- Improved landscaping
There are also plans to integrate the garden with nearby San Klement Park, creating what is expected to be the largest continuous park in southern Malta.[3]
Public Response
The regeneration has been welcomed by the Bormla community. Residents have described the project as a "ġojjell" (jewel), and a long-awaited improvement to the urban landscape. In addition to green infrastructure, the inclusion of underground parking beneath the garden is expected to relieve traffic and parking pressure in the town.[4]
See also
- Cottonera
- Project Green (Malta)
- Urban parks in Malta
References
- "Filmati – Ara kif spiċċa Ġnien Kottonera f'Bormla". Net News. Retrieved 23 August 2025.
- "Malta Ġusta: Regeneration of more than 135,000 square metres of open spaces". miriamdalli.com. Retrieved 23 August 2025.
- ""Ġojjell" – il‑Bormliżi jgħidu tagħhom dwar l‑ispazju miftuħ fuq 3,000 metru kwadru li se jinħoloq fil‑lokalità". One News Malta. Retrieved 23 August 2025.
- ""Ġojjell" – il‑Bormliżi jgħidu tagħhom dwar l‑ispazju miftuħ fuq 3,000 metru kwadru li se jinħoloq fil‑lokalità". One News Malta. Retrieved 23 August 2025.
Fireworks in Malta
Overview
Fireworks hold a deeply rooted place in Maltese culture, entwined with traditions of village festas and celebrations, while also representing a volunteer-run industry upheld by artistic craftsmanship and community spirit.
Historical and Cultural Significance
The tradition of fireworks in Malta extends back centuries, possibly to celebratory cannon or musket salutes used by the Order of the Knights of St John. Later, Italian pyrotechnicians introduced advanced techniques that local craftsmen adopted and adapted over generations.[1]
Festas—annual village celebrations of patron saints—feature prominently across Malta and Gozo. Fireworks are essential to these events, often involving local band clubs and parish committees. Competition between villages like Għargħur, Mqabba, Lija, and Qrendi is fierce, centered on producing the most spectacular displays.[2]
These events are not one-day happenings but week-long celebrations, often shifted to summer months, and fireworks are fired both day and night as integral expressions of festivity and cultural reverence.[3]
Industry, Structure, and Craftsmanship
Approximately 35 fireworks factories operate across Malta and Gozo, managed by volunteers who often learn through hands-on, intergenerational mentoring—with modern pyrotechnicians required to attend courses and pass licensing exams.[4][5]
These factories, often affiliated with local band clubs, produce fireworks not for profit but “to burn back” into the community—funded by villagers or festa donations.[6] This cannot be proven with written sources, nor can it be completely rejected. There is no source that says that Kulin was succeeded by his son Stepan I, or by someone who usurped power from Kulin's son.[7]
It is not even clear whether there was only one ruler between ban Kulin, who was alive in April 1203, [8] and the "great ban" Ninoslav who ruled around 1232.[9] From the papal correspondence, we learn a little that in 1236 Sebislav was the prince of Usora, and that he was the son of the deceased Stjepan ban of Bosnia ("Zibisclao, Kenesio de Woscura (Vsora) nato quondam Stephani Bani de Bosna").[10]
Despite the lively diplomatic activity of Pope Gregory IX after 1227 against those that he deemed as heretics in Bosnia, there is no mention of ban Stjepan in contemporary documents of the Roman Catholic Church.
Hungarian crusades
Despite the Bilino Polje abjuration of 1203, the Catholic Church remained suspicious of the orthodoxy of the Bosnian Christians. A mission was sent to convert Bosnia in 1216 but failed.[citation needed] The Crown of Hungary, of which Bosnia was formally a vassalage, and which followed Roman Catholicism, was equally wary of the Church of Bosnia because of its political influence in the country. Stjepan's Bosnia was thus characterized as being half-Barbaric.[citation needed]
At the height of the Albigensian Crusade against French Cathars in the 1220s, a rumour broke out that a "Cathar antipope", called Nicetas, was residing in Bosnia. It has never been clear whether Nicetas existed, but the neighbouring Hungarians took advantage of the spreading rumour to reclaim suzerainty over Bosnia, which had been growing increasingly independent.[11] Bosnians were accused of being sympathetic to Bogomilism, a Christian sect closely related to Catharism and likewise dualist.[12]
In 1221, Pope Honorius III dispatched his legate, Aconcius, to Bosnia, to determinate the status of the Bosnian heresy. Aconcius claimed that the Bogumils spread Bogumilism over there just as younglings are being breast-fed. The Pope complained to King Andrew II of Hungary and the Hungarian Bishoprics to destroy the Bosnian Bogomils, calling for a crusade against Bosnia. [11] King Andrews was fighting inner conflicts, so he could not heed the Papacy's callings. The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Kaločki wanted to lead the Crusade against Bosnia if the Pope promised that Bosnia would be ecclesiastically subjected to him; and so the Pope asked him to keep his promise in 1225. That year, by Pope's edict, Bosnia, Soli and Usora were transferred from the coastal Dalmatian bishoprics to the suzerainty of Ugrin Csák, Archbishop of Kalocsa. The Archbishop negotiated with the ruler of Srem to launch a joint operation in Bosnia. The Archbishop dispatched John Angelos of Syrmia, a Byzantine prince and nephew of the Hungarian King, to lead a military attempt into Bosnia.
On 15 May 1225, Pope Honorius III spurred the Hungarians to undertake the Bosnian Crusade. That expedition, like the previous ones, turned into a defeat, and the Hungarians had to retreat when the Mongols invaded their territories.
During the reign of Stjepan, the grasp of the Bosnian Church had grown further. Pope Gregory IX, elected in 1227, decided to launch a Crusade against the Bosnian Church in order to finally eradicate it. As part of that plan, he launched a very lively diplomatic activity. During all that time, there is no mention of ban Stjepan in local documents, and the Vatican does not mention him either.
Deposition
Because of his ardent Roman Catholicism and his allegiance to the Hungarian Kingdom, Stjepan was not popular among his Bosnian subjects. By 1232, the Bosnians had revolted and deposed ban Stjepan.[13]. His throne was seized by Matija Ninoslav.
Ban Stjepan and his wife, banica Ancila, had a son, Sibislav. [14][15]
See also
References
- https://www.guidememalta.com/en/behind-the-scenes-of-m
Reign
Lack of sources
It is not clear from the sources when exactly did Stjepan reign, between April 1203 and May 1233, when Matej Ninoslav became ban of Bosnia. Stjepan is often considered the son of Ban Kulin and his wife, the banica Vojslava, and it is staid that he actively participated in the events related to the papal investigation of the religion of Kulin and Vojslava.<ref name=Imamović>Enver Imamović: Korijeni Bosne i bosanstva: izbor novinskih članaka, predavanja sa javnih tribina, referata sa znanstvenih skupova i posebnih priloga, Međunarodni centar za mir, 1995. - Логос 2017, p. 174.
- Fejér, II 1829, p. 405-408. sfn error: no target: CITEREFFejér,_II1829 (help)
- Nakaš 2011, p. 24. sfn error: no target: CITEREFNakaš2011 (help)
- Fejér, IV , Vol. 1 1829, p. 36-37. sfn error: no target: CITEREFFejér,_IV_,_Vol._11829 (help)
- Lock, Peter (2013). The Routledge Companion to the Crusades. Routledge. p. 172. ISBN 978-1135131371.
- Sedlar, Jean W. (2011). East Central Europe in the Middle Ages, 1000–1500. University of Washington Press. p. 229. ISBN 978-0295800646.
- Thierry Mudry, Histoire de la Bosnie-Herzégovine faits et controverses, Ellipses, 1999, p. 29
Bibliography
- Логос, Александар А. (2017). Историја Срба I (PDF). Београд. ISBN 978-86-85117-37-4.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Анчић, Младен (2005). Касносредњовековни Столац, Повијесни прилози 29.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Ћирковић, Сима (1964). Историја средњовековне босанске државе. Београд: Српска књижевна задруга.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Накаш, Лејла (2011). Конкордацијски рјечник ћирилских повеља средњовјековне Босне. Сарајево.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)[dead link] - Fejér, Georgius (1829). Codex diplomaticus Hungariae ecclesiasticus ac civilis, Tomi IV, Vol. 1. Budae.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Fejér, Georgius (1829). Codex diplomaticus Hungariae ecclesiasticus ac civilis, Tomi II. Budae.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Логос, Александар А. (2016). Историја Срба, 2. измењено издање. Београд. ISBN 978-86-85117-31-2.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
| Preceded by | Bosnian Ban 1204–1232 |
Succeeded by |
Category:Bans of Bosnia Category:1236 deaths Category:13th-century Hungarian people Category:13th-century Bosnian people Category:Year of birth unknown s Category:Bosnian monarchs Category:People of the Banate of Bosnia