Fort Manoel history

Designed by knight René Jacob de Tigné and the Order’s military engineer Charles François de Mondion, it sits on the site of an old quarantine hospital built in 1643 and is considered to be one of the most outstanding examples of 18th century military architecture in the entire region.

It includes a parade ground, a stunning quadrangle and an arcade that once slept 500 soldiers. The four pentagonal bastions on each corner – St. Helen, St. Anthony, St. John and Notre Dame – form a star and one of Malta’s most secure and impressive forts.

The fort first saw action when the French invaded in 1798. It fell to the Gauls but the Maltese quickly took it back. The British took over in September 1800 and added gun emplacements and a gun battery. They were decommissioned in 1906 but the fort saw action in World War Two and took a number of direct Luftwaffe hits. The entire fort was finally decommissioned in 1964.

After falling into virtual ruin a €30m restoration project was launched in 2001.

Fort Manoel today

In one of Game of Thrones’ most climactic scenes, Fort Manoel is the Great Sept of Baelor, the place where King Joffrey executes Ned Stark after his confession in the exciting season one finale.

Getting to Fort Manoel

Fort Manoel is located on Manoel Island near the town of Gżira and overlooks Valetta and the Marsamxett Harbour.

The Fort is around a 25 minute drive from Malta international airport.

Today Fort Rinella is managed by the Malta Heritage Trust which offers tours and films at the site. The main tour is at 2:30pm although there are different hourly tours.

History of Fort Rinella

Fort Rinella is a Victorian fort which houses the world’s largest cannon. The fort was one of four coastal batteries built by the British in Malta and Gibraltar between 1878 and 1886. It is situated above the shore east of the mouth of Malta’s Grand Harbour, between Fort Ricasoli and Fort St. Rocco.

The fort was built in the shape of an irregularly-shaped pentagon, and was surrounded by a deep ditch, which was enfiladed by three caponiers and a counter-scarp gallery. The fort is built on two levels, with an underground magazine-loading chamber, and accommodation and machinery storage on the ground level.

It was built to contain a single Armstrong 100-ton gun, which was necessitated by Britain’s fear of losing their naval superiority in the Mediterranean to Italy. The gun was so large that it took 100 men three months of manual movement to get it into place and ready for use.

In 1906, after just 20 years of service, the gun was declared obsolete, and the fort was stripped of its machinery and abandoned. Until the mid-1930s, the fort served as a Position Finding Station for nearby Fort Ricasoli. It was then under the stewardship of the Admiralty, who then surrendered the property to the Government of Malta in 1965.

Fort Rinella Today

The fort has been undergoing restoration by volunteers from the Malta Heritage Foundation since 1991. Today, it is open to visitors, who can enjoy a tour by a very knowledgeable volunteer around the entire fort. There is also a small museum inside the fort with information about its role as a defensive structure and the army. The highlight of a visit to Fort Rinella, however, is seeing the Armstrong 100-Ton-Gun.

For those who want to enjoy dinner with a view of the fort and Grand Harbour, the beach has a range of restaurants to enjoy.

Getting to Fort Rinella

The Fort is a 30 minute drive from the centre of Malta, via the Triq-L-Imdina road. There is also a regular connecting bus service from the centre of the city, which takes around an hour and 45 minutes.

History of Fort St Angelo

When the Knights of the Order of St John arrived in 1530, the fort became the seat of the Grand Master, and after substantial remodelling over the next 30 years, it withstood a formidable Saracen advance during the 1565 Great Siege of Malta. Spanish military engineer Carlos de Grunenburgh remodelled the fort to include gun batteries he paid for himself and in 1912, the British moved in.

The naval HQ was (affectionately) re-named HMS St Angelo, and it took direct hits during the Second World War but withstood all-comers. It was used as a base ship until as recently as 1979, and until the British left.

Other add-ons have included D’Homedes Bastion, Ferramolino’s Cavalier, and the De Guiral Battery.

Fort St. Angelo has seen its fair share of action. When world-renowned Baroque artist Caravaggio was in Malta for the unveiling of his masterpiece ‘The Beheading of St John the Baptist’, he became involved in a brawl that ended with the wounding of an Italian Knight. He was imprisoned in the fort and is assumed to have escaped on one of the cargo ships that travelled between Malta and Sicily.

Fort St Angelo Today

Today, the fort is a scenic attraction and film location. For instance, the fort’s underground tunnels doubled as Arya Stark’s playground in the Red Keep’s dungeons in the TV show Game of Thrones.

Unfortunately for visitors, the fort is currently undergoing a €13.4m restoration, conservation, and re-use programme and is currently closed to the public.

Getting to Fort St Angelo

Though you can’t enter the fort, its scenic seaside location still makes the area worth a visit. From the centre of Malta, the site is reachable in around 35 minutes by car via the Route 1 road. A number of public transport options stop at the Riche stop, from where the fort is a 15 minute walk.

Ggantija Temples history

The Ggantija Temples were erected between 3600 – 2500 BC during the Neolithic era. Malta had been inhabited since 5900 BC, but by the time the temples were erected the inhabitants of the island were farming and domesticating animals.

The temples included design elements of a ceremonial site for fertility rituals; both for people and the natural world. Gozitan folklore told the story of a giantess or Ggantija who ate nothing but broad beans and honey. She gave birth to a human child, and with the child over her shoulder, built the temples as a place of worship.

Ggantija Temples were built on the edge of the Xaghra plateau facing the south-east, encompassing two temples and an incomplete third, partially built before it was abandoned.

The temples were built without use of the wheel or metal tools – an incredible feat of construction. Instead, ball bearings were used for the vehicles transporting the enormous stones used for the temples. At the entrance, the builders placed a large stone block with a dip in it, believed to be a ritual ablution or cleansing point before worshippers entered.

Islanders were long aware of the temples, and it was based on this local knowledge that excavator Jean-Pierre Houël drew up plans in the 18th century. After excavations in 1827, the ruins fell into decay as the land was held privately until 1933 when the Government acquired it. Following this, the Museums Department did archaeological work on the site until the late 1950s clearing, preserving and researching the temples.

Ggantija Temples today

Restored in the late 2000s, visitors can now spend a couple of hours walking around the remarkable preserved temples on an accessible and lightweight walkway built in 2011 to protect the floor.

There is also a small visitor’s centre that explains what you are about to see, and there is a small gift shop if you want to take home a reminder of your visit. Afterwards, head down to nearby Ramla Bay beach to enjoy the Neolithic coastline of the island.

Getting to Ggantija Temples

The easiest way to reach the temples is to get a 10 minute bus direct from the Victoria Bus Terminal. The entrance for those driving is on John Otto Bayer street, and there is parking on site.

History of Grandmasters Palace – Valletta

At first, the site of the Grandmasters Palace only had a single house on it, owned by the nephew of the head of the Knights Hospitaller, Grandmaster Jean Parisot de la Valette. This was incorporated into the new palace.

The palace was one of the first buildings to be built in Valletta – in 1571 – and over time, successive Grandmasters enlarged and developed the building as they saw fit.

Under British Rule in the 19th century, the Grandmasters Palace became the home of the British governors and, since Malta’s independence in 1964, it has served as the seat of the country’s House of Representatives.

Grandmasters Palace – Valletta today

Today, as well as being a government building, parts of the Grandmasters Palace are open to the public, particularly the State Rooms and the Armoury. The opulent and lavishly decorated State Rooms display several art collections of which many, such as The Great Siege Frescoes by Matteo Perez d’Aleccio, dating back to the times of the Knights Hospitaller.

Meanwhile, the Palace Armoury contains the impressive collection of armour and weaponry of the Knights Hospitaller. Other impressive sites include portraits of Grandmasters and other rulers which hang in the Hall of Ambassadors, which is also known as the Red Room, owing to it being decorated in crimson furniture from Louis XV. It also contains a fresco which explains episodes from the early history of the Order of St. John.

It’s worth taking the audio tour – it’s available in many languages and offers a great deal more detail than the brief descriptions on a small number of artefacts do.

The Grandmasters Palace is part of the City of Valletta UNESCO World Heritage listing.

Getting to Grandmasters Palace – Valletta

The palace is right in the middle of Valletta, meaning that almost all buses and roads lead there. From the centre of Malta, the Grandmasters Palace is a 35 minute drive via Triq L-Imdina. There are also a number of public transport options which stop off at Valletta 18, from where the palace is a 10 minute walk.

It’s worth noting that Hagar Qim is not far from the Mnajdra site and the two are usually seen together.

Hagar Qim history

Hagar Qim is part of the Hagar Qim Archaeological Park and is one of the oldest temples in the world. The megalithic temples of Hagar Qim (meaning “Standing Stone”) are the most preserved prehistoric sights. The big stone on the right side of the entrance weighs 20 tones.

Evidence suggests that Hagar Qim was built by stone age people who came from Scilly. Hagar Qim is a temple that was built for worship rather than habitation. Statues were discovered at the site, believed to be related to fertility. Some of these figures are now displayed at the National Museum of Archaeology in Valletta.

The temple was discovered in 1839 AD and further archaeological digs were conducted in 1885 when a number of statuettes and a limestone altar were discovered.

Since then, the work of restoration and consolidation of the temple has continued.

In 2009 a shelter was built to protect the site from the elements.

Hagar Qim today

The materials used by the Neolithic builders to construct the Maltese temple complexes can be found locally. In addition to the hard, chalky coralline limestone, the softer globigerina limestone was also used. Although the temple has been well preserved for several millennia, exposure to the elements is now taking its toll. For instance, on the southern wall of the temple, which is made of globigerina limestone, considerable surface flaking can be detected. By comparison, another temple complex, Mnajdra, just 500 m away from Hagar Qim, and equally exposed to the elements, shows much less damage. This is due to the harder coralline limestone that was used in its construction.

There is an informative hands-on visitors centre to explain the background to the structures, a children’s room with building blocks and an atmospheric 4D film introduction.

The facade, with its trilithon entrance (two upright stones with a third across the top as a lintel), has been restored and gives an idea of what it may once have looked like.

Getting to Hagar Qim

Hagar Qim is around half an hour drive from Valetta. To visit by public transport, take bus 72 direct to Qrendi. It is approximately 25 minutes walk from the Qrendi bus station to Hagar Qim.

A Royal Navy base for years after the war, in the 1960s the Lascaris War Rooms became a strategic communication centre for NATO. Since 2009 it has been under the management of the Malta Heritage Trust and is now a popular tourist site.

Lascaris War Rooms history

Located 150 feet under the Upper Barracca Gardens and Saluting Battery in Valletta, the Lascaris War Rooms housed Britain’s war headquarters in Malta during World War Two. Work began in 1940 during the siege of Malta, expanding a series of tunnels that had previously been used as slave quarters by the Hospitaller crusaders. The complex was completed in 1943 and saw around 1000 people working there.

The ultra secret complex housed an operations room for each of the fighting services, in particular, an RAF control room from which all sea and air operations were controlled. A Filter Room saw all radar traffic and a Combined Operations room provided a heavily guarded facility with encryption machines used to receive and send secret communications.

In July 1943 the rooms were used by General Eisenhower and his commanders Admiral Cunningham and Field Marshal Montgomery and Air Marshal Tedder, to plan the invasion of Sicily – also known as Operation Husky.

After the war’s end, the Lascaris War Rooms became the headquarters of the Mediterranean Fleet. Lascaris also also played a role during the Suez Crisis in 1956, and was on full alert during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, expecting a missile attack on Malta. The rooms were later taken over by NATO in 1967 to be used to intercept Soviet submarines in the Mediterranean during the Cold War.

After Malta Heritage Trust acquired the war rooms in 2009, they were restored and opened to the public.

Lascaris War Rooms today

Visitors can explore the Lascaris War Rooms with an hour long tour of the tunnels full of artefacts such as wall charts that transport you back to the 1940s. The whole complex was mechanically ventilated and still functions today, allowing the tunnels to be visited today.

In the war rooms you can also catch the Operation Husky exhibition that aims to explain both the role of Malta in the campaign, but also demonstrate the hardship of the Sicilian population due to indiscriminate bombing and atrocities committed by both Allied and Axis forces. Access is by ticket only, 13€ for a standard adult. The entrance is located in St James Ditch.

Getting to Lascaris War Rooms

Looking out onto the Grand Harbour, you can easily find the Lascaris War Rooms from the Upper Barrakka Gardens. The bus stop Lascaris along bus route 133 is only a minute walk away, and the rooms are only a short walk from other sites such as the Valletta City Gate or Grandmaster Palace.

History of Malta at War Museum

The Malta at War Museum is situated at Couvre Porte, Vittoriosa (Birgu). Vittoriosa is Malta’s old maritime city, and was the former home to the Royal Navy from 1800-1979. Ensconced within Dockyard Creek, it was inevitable that the city would become one of the worst bombed places of the conflict, with almost half of the city lost to enemy action.

The museum is housed within an 18th century army barracks which was used as an air raid precautions centre and police station during the war. It sits atop a huge underground rock-cut air raid shelter which was able to shield hundreds of people, and has now been restored as part of the museum experience.

Malta at War Museum Today

The museum displays a rich and varied collection of period artefacts and memorabilia ranging from medals, uniforms, personal items, documents, and weaponry. Through the numerous period newsreels and sounds, visitors can be immersed into the everyday world that the Maltese would have experienced during the war.

The museum also displays the first ever documentary to be made on the island, entitled ‘Malta G.C.’ It was released on the initiative of King George VI, who wanted his subjects to witness the difficult circumstances that Malta had bravely endured; so bravely, in fact, that the country received the George Cross.

The film is narrated by Sir Laurence Olivier and features the specially composed ‘Malta Suite’, and documents Italy’s entry into the war in 1940 until the lifting of the siege in 1942.

The museum was renovated and expanded between September 2011 and April 2012. Multilingual audio guides are available, and the museum is open from 10.00 – 17.00 from Mondays to Saturdays.

Getting to Malta at War Museum

The Malta at War Museum is reachable in around half an hour from the centre of Malta, primarily along Route 7. There is also a frequent bus service – the 41, 42, 49, or 3, which then connects to the 42 or 182, which takes around an hour and a half.

Visitors can enjoy the beautiful scenery of the Grand Harbour in the old fortified city of Birgu, with a number of buildings and churches in the area dating from the 1570s onwards.