Il- girna

The ‘girna’ is a type of hut that was used in the early days by field people. It is found in the Maltese countryside and it is made in different shapes like oval, square, rectangle, although the main one is circular. Its ceiling mostly have a Dome shape.

Squarish giren are better for sheltering but circular ones are more straight forward to build mostly when building the top. The giren are made like the terrace wall is made with double walls and small pieces in the middle. Most of the giren are found to shelter one to two people from the weather.

In the design of the giren generally there are no windows although sometimes a small one is made.

Some of the roofs are flattish to allow the farmer to dry his tomatoes, figs and carobs. Sometimes a stairs is used to be made so that the farmer can see more if there is a case of theft. Most of the giren we found are found in the West and in the top of Malta. The main use of the girna is to keep their products like crops, tools and also food and drink for the farmer.

In my opinion it’s our responsibility to look after these huts since they are of heritage and many of them are being destroyed.

The girna is not typically Maltese and from the research I made corbelled stone huts are found in Italy, Sardinia, Spain, Portugal, France Ireland and the Hebrides.

Stone hut like maltese one only the roof is diffferent. It is found near the Hood river in Oregon.

Irish stone hut which is named a Clochan.

African stone hut which is used as a shelter for farmers and is still being used today. I noticed also that wood is involved for the making of the roofs.

As seen in these pictures we found many huts around the world. Many of them are not being used although we still find ones like African ones that are still being used in these days for farming and also shelter for fisherman.

Bibliography

The Girna- Maltese plural- Giren [online] available at:< http://schoolnet.gov.mt/history/F5/Kampanja/Karat/girna.htm > [ accessed 25 June 2015]