Victoria Gozo War Memorial

📍 Location

Location Map Coordinates 36.045061, 14.238056

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A memorial plaque in Victoria, Gozo, commemorating local victims of the First World War and Second World War. The marble plaque records six Victoria casualties from 1914–1918 and eleven victims of the Second World War, together with their ages and dates of death.

Victoria's War Memorial

This memorial in Victoria, Gozo, records the names of local people who died during the two World Wars. Unlike a conventional freestanding war monument, the memorial takes the form of a marble commemorative plaque mounted on a historic building in the town.

The plaque brings together two separate periods of remembrance. The first section commemorates the victims of the First World War, 1914–1918, while the larger section records Victoria's victims of the Second World War, 1939–1945.

The present plaque was installed in 2001. Its inscription states that it was erected on the initiative of the Victoria Local Council, with the unveiling taking place on 10 June 2001. The inscription also records that the work was carried out under the direction of then local council official Paul M. Cassar.

The memorial is therefore both a record of wartime loss and an example of the way local communities in Malta and Gozo have preserved the names of their war dead in public places.

Memorial Specifications & Documentation

The Memorial Plaque

Inscription & Translation

The principal inscription is in Maltese. The wording distinguishes the victims of the First World War from those of the Second World War.

First World War — 1914–1918

The first section of the plaque commemorates six victims associated with Victoria during the First World War. Their names are preserved exactly as they appear on the memorial.

Second World War — 1939–1945

The Second World War section records eleven victims. Unlike the First World War section, the plaque provides both the age of each person and the date on which they died. These details have been transcribed from the marble plaque.

The 2001 Memorial and Victoria Town Day

The lower part of the plaque provides an important piece of information about its history. It states that the memorial was erected on the initiative of the Victoria Local Council and unveiled on 10 June 2001 by Mayor Paul M. Cassar.

The ceremony formed part of the first celebration of Jum il-Belt Victoria, or Victoria Town Day. The date therefore places the present marble memorial within the civic history of Victoria at the beginning of the twenty-first century.

The 2001 plaque also demonstrates that the community's remembrance of the war dead was not limited to the large national war monument elsewhere in Victoria. Local memorials such as this one provide a more specifically town-based record, preserving the names of people connected with the local community.

Victoria and the Two World Wars

Victoria, historically known as Rabat, was the principal urban centre of Gozo during both World Wars. Its position at the centre of the island meant that it served as an important administrative, commercial and religious centre for the Gozitan population.

The First World War affected Gozo through military service, wartime employment, shipping and the wider economic disruption caused by the conflict. Gozitans served in the armed forces and merchant services, while the island also experienced the consequences of Malta's role as a major British military and naval base.

The Second World War had a more direct impact on the Maltese Islands. Malta became a major Allied military base and endured sustained Axis bombing, while thousands of Maltese men served in military, naval and support organisations.

The names preserved on the Victoria plaque provide a local human record of that wider history. The memorial is particularly valuable because it does not simply give the years of the conflicts; for the Second World War it also records the ages and exact dates of death of the eleven people named.

A Local Record of Remembrance

War memorials are often among the most direct historical records surviving in a town. Their inscriptions preserve names that might otherwise become detached from the places and communities with which the individuals were associated.

The Victoria plaque is significant for this reason. It brings together the memory of two generations affected by two global conflicts and places their names within the civic landscape of Victoria.

Together with the larger Gozo War Monument, the Victoria memorial forms part of the island's wider landscape of remembrance. The Gozo War Monument in Independence Square is a separate memorial and should not be confused with this local plaque.

Related eMalta Pages

Explore the wider collection of Maltese and Gozitan war memorials in the eMalta War Memorials Catalogue .

For the larger memorial commemorating Gozitans who lost their lives in the World Wars, see the Gozo War Monument .

Research & Documentation

This page forms part of eMalta's ongoing documentation of the historical, cultural and architectural heritage of Malta and Gozo.

The memorial has been photographed and documented on site. The inscription and names have been transcribed directly from the marble plaque. Historical information has been checked against available published and archival sources where possible.

The University of Malta's institutional repository contains substantial scholarship on the history and heritage of Gozo, including research relating to Victoria and St George's Basilica. The University's catalogue records, for example, Paul Mizzi's study The Basilica of St. George in Gozo, published in 1978.

The present page concentrates specifically on the war memorial and its inscription rather than treating the surrounding historic buildings as part of the memorial itself.