Fort St Angelo

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Along the years, whoever gained control of Fort St Angelo would be in a position to rule the Maltese islands because of its strategic place on a hillock where it dominates the Grand Harbour. In fact, the fort attracted the attention of several rulers since antiquity. By 1274, the site was known as Castrum Maris and it contained two enclosures, each demarcated by an enceinte stiffened with round towers at regular intervals. After the arrival of the Order of St John in Malta in 1530, the military structure was named Fort St Angelo and it became part of the knight’s headquarters until their transfer to Valletta in 1571. Between 1530 and 1558, it served as the Grand Masters residence. The knights renovated the building by constructing a series of artillery platforms. This marked the introduction of the bastioned system of defence into the Maltese Islands. Fort St Angelo had a major role during the Great Siege of 1565. In 1608 the famous painter Caravaggio, who was convicted of injuring a knight in a brawl, was imprisoned at St Angelo. In 1687, the Flemish military engineer Don Carlos De Grunenberg came with the idea of constructing four gun batteries on the side of the fort facing the entrance to the Grand Harbour, thus upgrading the fort into a coastal fortification. During the French blockade of 1798, the fort served as headquarters of the French Army. In 1800 the fort passed in the hands of the British Army who remained therein until 1906 when the site was transferred to the Royal Navy and subsequently renamed HMS Egmont in 1912 and HMS St Angelo in 1933. The fort suffered extensive damages during the Second World War as it suffered 69 direct hits between 1940 and 1943. In 1979, the last foreign military forces in Malta marched out of its towering walls. Recently, Fort St Angelo was restored and is opened to the public on a daily basis. In collaboration with Kottonera Foundation.