The Great Wall of China, the (former) Berlin Wall, Hadrian’s Wall in England, and Rome’s Aurelian Walls are fortifications and defence barriers with name recognition the world over.
Throughout history, Malta’s Mediterranean position, shallow protected coves, and elevated coastal viewing points made it a strategically desireable target, which explains why it has been invaded, occupied, and fought over by land, sea, and air for the better part of three millennia, This also explains why Malta and Gozo are rife with forts, bastions and defencive walls, In fact, it’s estimated that on its 313 square kilometres, there is some kind of fortification every 1.7 square kilometre, including Prehistoric Bronze Age defences, walled cities, forts, towers, batteries, redoubts and entrenchments, making Malta home to the most concentrated collection of them in the world. No wonder Malta is sometimes called the Fortress Island.
Gozo Citadel (photo by Matt Hush)
For visitors, they are not only beautiful to look at and admire, but they also tell a tale of centuries (3,000 years in all) of domination by foreign powers and military forces. Today remain to reflect and tell the tale of Malta’s important role in world history.
One could spend weeks and months visiting this complete list of fortifications in Malta – Wikipedia, but here are a few we recommend you not miss.
What to Visit?
Fort St Elmo
For those looking to explore the most famous forts in Malta, it makes sense to start at Fort St Elmo – one of the major fortifications in the capital city of Valletta, and a strategic military mainstay since 1417. Today, you can admire the views over the Grand Harbour and walk in the footsteps of history and see the National War Museum, also on the site; its collection of historic artefacts is comprehensive to say the least, with items dating back to the Bronze Age.
Fort St. Elmo wasn’t the only line of defence for the coastal city of Valletta. While you’re in town, take a walk along the city’s colossal bastions, which loom over the ocean below, looking out over to the 18th century Fort Manoel on Manoel Island (originally built to protect the city from the west, Fort Manoel is currently undergoing intensive restoration and, when it reopens its doors, will surely be one of the best-preserved forts in Malta). Valletta also has its own Saluting Battery, which has been around for about 500 years and still performs regular gun salutes.
The Citadel, Gozo
Admire Gozo’s fortified Citadel from outside its walls and then venture inside. Like Fort St. Elmo, the Citadel is a survivor of the Great Siege of 1565, but the hill on which it’s perched has been settled since Neolithic times. Today, you can enjoy the 360-degree views, explore the wonderfully preserved architecture, and visit numerous top-notch museums and cultural spots, like the Baroque Gozo Cathedral.
One of Malta’s best walking trails is along the Victoria Lines (Photo from MapTrotting.com)
Fort Madalena
Those hoping to visit a fort that’s still in use should make their way over to Fort Madalena in Madliena. The 19th-century structure is used as the headquarters of the St. John Rescue Corps (a civil defence organisation). Visit on Saturdays, or during the week if you make an appointment, to see the original pentagonal fort structure, which was built as part of the Victoria Lines defences, a line of fortifications spanning 12 kilometres, and dividing the north of the island from the more heavily populated south.
The name Victoria Lines comes from the completion of a line of forts and defences along the route by the British in 1897, the year of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee.
Fort Rinella
Fort Rinella in Kalkara, Malta, is impressive, but what set it apart from some of the other forts in Malta was its massive 100-ton cannon (the world’s largest) called the Armstrong gun I tis positioned on the coastal battery –and was built by the british built to keep the Italian navy at bay. Plan your visit to coincide with the regular volunteer tours whose guides dress up like Victorian soldiers.
Mdina, Malta, limits the number of cars allowed to enter and offers sweeping views over the island (photo from By Berthold Werner )
Mdina
The exquisite architectural detail of Malta’s old capital city, Mdina, is a must. Called “the silent city” for its restriction on the number of cars allowed in at any given time, Mdina remains a place for quiet reflection on Malta’s medieval and aristocratic past.
The medieval bastions have stood guard over the city for centuries and protected the Maltese people during the the Second World War. Surrounded by a wide moat, Mdina is high on a hill so you’ll have views over most of the island too.
Ready to go to Malta? Plan your trip at www.visitmalta.com
Brief History of Defencive Malta
The majority of Malta’s fortifications were installed by the Knights after their expulsion from Corfu and re-allocation to Malta in 1530. Malta’s capital city at the time was Mdina, the silent and noble city in the hinterland but that was not good enough for the Knights still rankling over their expulsion by the Ottomans from Corfu. They reasoned to resist Ottoman invasions their presence was on the sea coast, particularly the large and impressive harbour area. This had a very small coastal fort and on the northern harbour coast was a village known as Birgu and later designated as Vittoriosa and here they established their headquarters.
The expected massive Ottoman invasion took place in 1565 and was matched by enormous resilience by the Knights, a small Spanish contingent which had been designated to them and many hundreds of Maltese and Gozitans pledged to defend their Christian faith from the invading Moslems. This was the fabled Great Siege of Malta and the Ottomans were final driven off on 8th September, a victory honoured by Christian Europe.
The victorious French Grandmaster, Jean Parisot de la Valette, very wisely contended the massive harbour – one of the largest in Europe – had to be defended at all cost. The Ottomans had attempted various other coastal invasions but had been easily repelled and their main focus was the great harbour, and hence if lost would result in total defeat.
To defend Malta from invasion and attack, numerous towers were built along its coastline, including St Agatha’s Tower, aka the Red Tower (photo by KNOW MALTA by Peter Grima
The fort on the coastline was greatly increased and fortified and became known as Fort St Elmo and in 1566 the building began of a large walled city, completed on 1568. La Valette had passed away but the city was named Valletta in his honour. The city was pronounced the Capital City and the Knights were reallocated there from Birgu which they named Vittoriosa to mark the great victory.
From then onward the building of fortifications was frantic and resulted in the building of defence forts and towers throughout the two islands, together with walls, entrenchments and redoubts. The towers were not only for watch/lookout purposes but packed with military personnel to resist invasion.
Yet, by 1798, the military strength of the Knights had greatly ebbed and offered little or no resistance to the entry of Napoleon’s Mediterranean Fleet into the Grand Harbour. The Grandmaster of the Order was relocated to The Vatican, and the French ruled.
The inhabitants originally welcomed the French but became very disenchanted when French soldiers and sailors began looting churches, and although Napoleon ordered a number of needed legal reforms, the inhabitants busily set about a rebellion.
Aerial view of Mdina (Photo from R Muscat)
They drove the French out of Gozo and Mdina and the Maltese insurgents, helped by the British, hastily built various fortifications mainly intended to repel a possible French counter-attack, and at the same time also bombard French positions in the harbour area. The insurgents had various camps, and men in these camps were responsible for a number of batteries, redoubts and entrenchments in the vicinity. The most important batteries were the Corradino Batteries and Gharghur Battery.
The French were eventually forced to leave in 1800 and Lord Horatio Nelson triumphantly arrived to declare Malta and Gozo as a British colony.
As Nelson had correctly figured, Malta was supremely important to Britain’s imperial and colonial position in the central/middle position in the Mediterranean Sea with its magnificent harbour. Forts and towers were renovated and fortified; more redoubts and entrenchments were added and the Victoria Lines wall was added in central Malta to divide north from south.
When the British finally departed in 1979 and Malta became a free and independent Republic the Government’s work has continued unabated to ensure all these historic fortifications remain intact and renovated as an integral part of the history of the islands.
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BeSeeingYou In: Malta
Good To Know: Many of Malta’s forts, towers and bastions were onstructed both by the Knights of St John, as well as under British rule,
WOW! Factor: The largest cannon in the world is found in Malta
Tip: All along the coastline of Malta you will find countless lookout posts and watch towers that were built by the Knights in the seventeenth century
Auhtor Bio: Albert Fenech
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