The Gate

Notre Dame Gate, Zabbar, Malta

A distant enemy is always preferable to one at the gate." Emile M. Cioran

'Bieb is-Sultan' in English Notre Dame Gate is a landmark in Zabbar, Malta. It was built my grandmaster Cotoner, where up to this day you can see a statue of him looking towards a curious direction. Many theories were developed regarding this statue, with one being more popular than others. Some people say that the direction the grandmaster is looking at leads to a well hidden treasure. Hundreds of years later no one managed to find the treasure and I doubt anyone will.

This gate always posed a mystifying effect to me. I don't know if that's because it has a rich history or if there is something really hidden behind the story. 

I also want to make it clear that this is only a small part of the gate. The whole castle (yes it's also a castle) is quite big and grand in size.

This photograph was captured on my iPhone using the Hipstamatic app. Some minor editing was done in PS CS4. Settings for Hipstamatic were BlacKeys B&W/Lucifer IV