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Few realise what an 'old' place Attard actually
is. Burial sites and remains excavated in Attard date back
to the prehistoric times, and go as far back as 3,000 years
B.C. These are prehistoric, Hellenistic and Roman amongst
which is a bell-shaped rock-tomb discovered in 1910 at the
site known as Buqana, a Phoenician rock-tomb discovered in
1946 and in the mid-sixties two other finds, both of them
Roman sites, one was a bell-shaped well in Notary Zarb Street
and the other one was a tomb. In 1989 another Hellenistic
tomb was excavated in Old Railway Track.
Railway Track
In the past century Attard's role as a pivotal
communications centre was probably best demonstrated by the
stops of the Malta Railway between 1883 and 1931; it was the
only place in Malta having no less than three railway stations
or stops: one near Sant'Anton close to what is now Balzan,
another up the road in what is now the Gnien l-Istazzjon,
and further up, in Tas-Salvatur, on the way to Rabat, Mdina
and Mtarfa. Nicholas Azzopardi, a long time resident, has
documented these railway activities - the trains, the bridges,
the entrenchments, the wagons, the stops, the ticket-collectors,
the flag-waving, warden known as 'tal-katina' who closed the
road to man and beast as the train approached; he has exhibited
an impressive photographic collection on railway history.
The Aqueduct
 The
seventeenth century Wignacourt aqueduct, constructed for suppling
Valletta with water from the higher ground around Rabat and
Mdina, runs through Attard. The best preserved section of
it in Malta so far is probably this one in Attard, in what
is now Peter Paul Rubens Street.
Beyond Attard, water flowed in stone water
channels and earthenware pipes on top of the stone arches.
At certain points where the ground rises, the arches disappear
below the ground, only to become again visible where the terrain
drops again. The aqueduct is 15, 635m long, and was constructed
at a total cost of 435,000 scudi, of which 40,000 scudi were
obtained from the economies effected in the Order's bakeries.
The rest came from Wignacourt's private income. Maintenance
and regular upkeep of the aqueduct were acquired from funds
derived from the sale of agricultural produce of Comino.
Other parts of the aqueduct, in Pitkali and
Mosta roads, unfortunately fell victim to post-war building
developments and the changing street levels.
Ta' Qali
Attard's Ta' Qali area and the village that was all too close
to it, played an important role in wartime: Air Raid Precautions
and Victory Kitchen, the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, the various
regiments stationed here from 'Buffs' to Basutos, the searchlight
installation up the Mosta Road corner with Railways Track.
 Subsequently,
Ta' Qali was used as a national park and sporting centre,
most recently also having a vineyard called 'Meridiana'. Hangars,
barracks and nissen huts were transformed into crafts shops
manufacturing and selling anything from ceramics to jewellery,
the famous glass-blowing skills producing decorative glass,
a good souvenir to take away; the national football stadium;
an amphitheatre popular fro open-air concerts; and even a
miniature jet d'eau in faint imitation (albeit in sunnier
weather) of Geneva or Strasbourg. This part of Attard now
hosts an Aviation Museum-model planes are regularly flown
there-and indeed a dinosaur museum.
Sant'
Anton Gardens
Sant'Anton
is not only rich in artistic and historical legacies, but
as a magnet for hosting, entertainment and celebrations, even
as a job-provider and an apprenticeship for Attard residents.
This palace has greeted royalty too numerous to list - from
Queen Marie of Romania to the Russina Empress Marie Feodorovna,
from King Edward VII to Queen Elizabeth II in this century
alone; it has seen the most distinguished visitors in contrasting
personal situations - Napoleon's younger brother Louis Bonaparte
as a prisoner, the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge as an admiring
recluse.
Governor Borton opened its botanic gardens to the public in
1882 for picnics and strolls. Its shaded open courtyards today
may ring with the classical music of an occasional chamber
orchestra or string quintet, but the gardens regularly host
extremely popular shows, fairs and competitions, from plants
to flowers, to pet cats and dogs, to birds, chickens and rabbits.
Every summer a dramatic company puts up the Shakespeare Festival.
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