Wikipedia’s post on balconies interestingly mentions specifically the “Maltese Balcony” as an example. Even more interesting was the origins of the word “balcony” itself from the Persian “بالكانه bālkāneh” which got me wondering whether Xerxes and Ataxerxes were into the habit of using balconies on solemn occasions.
Historically the balcony has had an important role through the ages. One of the most famous balconies of all time was the scene in Verona where the son and daughter of rival houses played out the age-old ceremony of courting. Balconies though are more associated with power and glory. Famous balconies such as that at Buckingham Palace from which the Royal Family have saluted the brave public in good and bad times or the Vatican balcony of “habemus papam” fame promptly come to mind.
Michael Jackson, God bless his soul, dared eclipse the Brandenburg Gate‘s symbolic importance by dangling his very own son out of the balcony of a Berlin Hotel that has henceforth become a tourist attraction.
This week I read in Italy’s La Stampa that Mussolini‘s famous balcony from which he proclaimed war on the Allies in WWII has been re-opened for the first time since 1943. The balcony, the article read, is no longer taboo. Closer to home one of the myriad cosmetic changes ordered by Joseph Muscat during his reign was the ordering of a celebratory balcony for the electoral win that was yet to come.
Romeo and Juliet, Popes, Mussolini, the Royal Family, Michael Jackson… the thing with balconies is that it is not the balconies themselves that make the person but rather vice-versa. Which probably means that judging by his current performance, Joseph Muscat’s balcony is doomed to being just another architectural eyesore in Mile End.
