A_ERDF 039 Book PDF copy

Vittoriosa

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ERDF 039 The Restoration and Rehabilitation of the Historic Fortifications of Malta

St. James Bastion

& Cavalier

St. James Bastion is the second of the two main bastions
making up the land front defences of Birgu. Its principal
role was to protect the ramparts from the direction of
Kalkara Creek and the heights of San Salvatore. This
bastion was remodelled in the 1720s and it owes its
present configuration to Mondion’s interventions. It
appears to have been linked by a small sally-port, via a
bridge, to the covertway during this period. A low cavalier,
raised on two large vaulted casemates, was also added to
the gorge of the bastion around this time.
The ERDF 039 project has sought to repair and restore
the heavily consumed masonry fabric of the bastion,
particularly along its right flank and face. The works also
involved the reconstruction of the parapet on the right
flank, with its three embrasures, the re-paving of part of
the bastion terrace and artillery platforms, the repairs to
the consumed bridge, and the unearthening and opening
up of the sally-port and the gallery leading down to the
ditch.

Detail of the deteriorated masonry fabric
on the salient of St. James Bastion prior to
restoration.

Various views of the extent of the masonry
deterioration on St. James Bastion prior to
restoration.

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Birgu

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ERDF 039 The Restoration and Rehabilitation of the Historic Fortifications of Malta

ERDF project survey drawings
showing plan and elevations with
deterioration mapping of St. James
Bastion prior to restoration (BRG 06).

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Birgu

St. James Bastion and Cavalier after
completion of restoration works, showing
the reconstructed parapet with embrasures
crowning the right flank of the bastion.

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ERDF 039 The Restoration and Rehabilitation of the Historic Fortifications of Malta

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Birgu

Various views of the restoration works in 207
progress on the faces and flanks of St. James
Bastion. This bastion had the most heavily
consumed masonry elements along the
Birgu land front fortifications, necessitating
significant interventions and a considerable
replacement of stone.

ERDF 039 The Restoration and Rehabilitation of the Historic Fortifications of Malta

View of St. James Bastion,
French Curtain, St. John
Cavalier and flank of St. John
Bastion (in the background)
after restoration.

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Birgu

Various views of the restoration
works in progress on the faces and
flanks of St. James Cavalier, and
the reconstruction of the parapet
and embrasures on the flank of the
bastion.

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ERDF 039 The Restoration and Rehabilitation of the Historic Fortifications of Malta

View of the flank and gorge St. James Cavalier during
of St. James Cavalier during restoration works.
restoration.

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Birgu

ERDF project survey drawings
showing plan and elevations with
deterioration mapping of St. James
Cavalier prior to restoration (BRG 06).

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ERDF 039 The Restoration and Rehabilitation of the Historic Fortifications of Malta

Post of Castile

& Hornworks

The Post of Castile is the most famous place inside the
Grand Harbour after Fort St. Elmo. This position along
the Kalkara-facing side of the Birgu enceinte was the site
of the most critical fighting during the Ottoman siege of
1565. Today, the Post of Castile is largely the product of
eighteenth-century alterations that were undertaken by
the Order to the design of its French military advisors.
The post consists of an outer hornwork and an internal
retrenchment (with ditch).The ERDF 039 project has
sought to restore the heavily consumed masonry fabric
of this part of the enceinte and to repair those elements
demolished during the Second World War (such as
traverses, ramps and parapets). It also sought to open the
area for public enjoyment given that the site was hitherto
inaccessible to the general public.
The ERDF 039 restoration project also sought to
recuperate the proper legibility of this important and
impressive feature of the Birgu fortifications through the
removal of an Oil Bunkering depot that was insensitively
grafted onto the ramparts in the course of the early
twentieth century.

Deteriorated masonry fabric
on the gorge of the hornworks of the Post
of Castile prior to restoration.

View of the deteriorated masonry fabric
along the aile of the hornworks of the Post
of Castile prior to restoration.

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Birgu

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ERDF 039 The Restoration and Rehabilitation of the Historic Fortifications of Malta

The aile (wing) of the Post
of Castile after completion
of the restoration
interventions.

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ERDF 039 The Restoration and Rehabilitation of the Historic Fortifications of Malta

Above, The sally-port of
the retrenchment of the
Post of Castile, prior to the
commencement of restoration
works.
Right, ERDF project survey drawings
showing plan the hornwork, ditch and
retrenchment of the Post of Castile
prior to restoration (BRG 08 and
BRG 09).

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Birgu

Various views of the
retrenchment of the Post
of Castile prior to the
commencement of restoration
works.

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ERDF 039 The Restoration and Rehabilitation of the Historic Fortifications of Malta

ERDF project survey drawings
showing elevations with deterioration
mapping of the ramparts and
retrenchment of the Post of Castile
prior to restoration (BRG 08 and
BRG 09).

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Birgu

Various views of the Retrenchment
of the Post of Castile, prior to the
commencement of restoration
works.

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ERDF 039 The Restoration and Rehabilitation of the Historic Fortifications of Malta

Frontal elevations of the Hornworks of the Post of
Castile prior to, and after, the dismantling of the
modern oil bunkering depot that had been crudely
grafted onto the ramparts. The removal of the structure
helped endow the enceinte with its proper legibility.

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Birgu

Restoration works in progress
on the orillion and flank of
the Hornworks of the Post of
Castile.

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ERDF 039 The Restoration and Rehabilitation of the Historic Fortifications of Malta

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View form Kalkara Creek
showing the hornworks and
aile of the Post of Castile
after restoration.

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ERDF 039 The Restoration and Rehabilitation of the Historic Fortifications of Malta

Kalkara Enceinte

The Kalkara enceinte is the oldest part of the Birgu
fortifications and comprises that part of the walls spanning
from the Hornwork of the Post of Castile all the way to the
moat of Fort St. Angelo. These ramparts form an irregular
trace of walls laid out mostly on the principle of a tortuous
tenaille trace of low curtains and small artillery platforms
which originally ran along the edge of the shore inside the
creek. These relatively low walls depended largely on the
sea for their protection and contained two small sally-
ports.
Adjoining these ramparts are a number of historic
buildings dating from the period, such as the old Knights’
hospital, and the slaves’ prison.
The ERDF 039 project has sought to restore the
consumed masonry fabric of the bastions and walls and
repair those elements neglected over time.

Detail of the deteriorated masonry fabric
on the ramparts of Birgu along the Kalkara
enceinte prior to restoration.
Aerial view of the ramparts along Kalkara
Creek during restoration.

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Birgu

Plan of the design proposal for the
rehabilitation of the public garden
inside the Birgu land front ditch with
an artistic impression of the new
visitor pathways, seating and piazzas
and lighting fixtures. The new garden
layout has sought to retain and
emphasize the 18th-century caponier
system of outworks which was
brought to light early in the course of
the ERDF restoration works.
These elements were retained
as a central feature of
the ditch.
Above, Two views of the
new public garden features,
seating and piazzas.

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ERDF 039 The Restoration and Rehabilitation of the Historic Fortifications of Malta

New metal stairs and walkway
linking the various levels of the
fortifications along the land front
ditch Birgu.

Left, View of the new piazza
beneath the face of St. John
Bastion, at the entrance to
the ditch from the Couvre
Porte area.
Bottom, right, View of the
restored remains of the 18th-
century caponier which cuts
across the ditch, spanned
over by a raised metal
walkway.
Bottom, left, Landscaping
detail beneath the flank of
St. James Bastion.

ERDF 039 The Restoration and Rehabilitation of the Historic Fortifications of Malta

Repaving of Intra
Mural Area

As a fortified city, Birgu served both a military and
social function. The city, which originated as a medieval
fisherman’s village huddled in the shadow of a Castrum
Maris, retained its largely original medieval layout of
narrow winding streets and alleys. After the coming of
the Knights in 1530, and the enclosure of the settlement
within a bastioned enceinte, a substantial part of the intra-
mural area was reserved exclusively for the Knights and
their main buildings – a conventual church, hospital, and
auberges – creating the so-called Collachio.
Most of these narrow streets and other spaces within
the project boundary had lost their original paving under
layers of tarmac and concrete. The ERDF 039 project
has sought to rehabilitate the paving as an essential
component of the historic urban fabric in order to
communicate a more sympathetic ‘spirit of place’.

Typical state of street paving in
Birgu prior to ERDF 039 interventions.
Proposed street paving studies prior to
commencement of project.
Repaved street.

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Birgu

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ERDF 039 The Restoration and Rehabilitation of the Historic Fortifications of Malta

Above, A typical working drawing outlining
the design and layout details of the re-paving
exercise in a street junction at Birgu (BRG 12).

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Birgu

Above, Two views of the newly-
repaved streets and alleys in Birgu.

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ERDF 039 The Restoration and Rehabilitation of the Historic Fortifications of Malta

New Lighting System
for the Fortifications

The ERDF project has sought to introduce a co-ordinated,
sustainable, and economic lighting system designed
to provide evening and night-time appreciation of the
fortifications of Birgu and its immediate areas.

The lighting project also included Birgu’s intramural
and historic urban fabric and architectural heritage. The
project’s aim was to promote an artistic enhancement and
experience of the fortifications, create safe and pleasant
outdoor spaces, and highlight and emphasize important
features such as gateways, cavaliers, sally-ports and
historic buildings.

Façade of St. Lawrence Band Club in the
piazza of Birgu.
Night view of Couvre Porte and its
approaches.
Night view of the Post of Castile from
across the bay in Kalkara.

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Birgu

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CittadellaGozo Citadel

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ERDF 039 The Restoration and Rehabilitation of the Historic Fortifications of Malta

Cittadella - The Gozo of a more defensible position higher up on the site of the
Citadel present citadel itself. By 1241, this castrum is known to
have offered shelter to the population of Gozo, numbering
some 366 families in all. A commission of Knights of St.
John sent to inspect Gozo in 1524 found the castle to be
very small, ‘molto picciola’, and round in shape, ‘di forma
rotonda’.

The oldest known plan of the The Cittadella (Gran Castello) or Gozo’s Citadel, is the The Knights, for their part, failed to upgrade its
Gozo Citadel showing the oldest fortified settlement in Gozo, the second largest island obsolete medieval defences, as a result of which, it was
medieval defences around in the Maltese archipelago. It constitutes one of the most overwhelmed, pillaged and sacked during the course of a
the middle of the 16th-century important fortified locations in the Maltese Islands and one Turkish razzia in 1551. Even so, it took another fifty years
with an early Hospitaller of the most popular tourist destinations in Gozo, largely before the Order finally found the motivation to drag the
proposal for its re-fortification because of its powerful sculptural qualities. The ERDF old castle into the artillery age. In 1599 the old fortress was
(Image source: Courtesy of project has sought to restore the Cittadella’s fortifications partially rebuilt and fitted out with bastions and cavaliers.
the National Library of Malta). and revest them with the dignity that this unique historical The design was entrusted to the Anconian engineer
fortress rightfully deserves in order to allow this historical Giovanni Rinaldini. Most of the building, however, was
landmark the ability to live up to its role as a prime entrusted to Vittorio Cassar, ‘architector Sacrae Religionis
cultural and tourism asset. The interventions were aimed Hierosolimitane’, who was put in charge of the construction
at restoring the Cittadella’s consumed physical fabric, works. The new gunpowder defences of the Castello were
recuperating the overall legibility of its fortified enceinte, and those which gave it its present bastioned form and these
consolidating the unstable cliff face at the northern end of seem to have been completed by 1622.
its medieval enceinte.
In its new configuration, the Cittadella was actually a
Historical Significance combination of two fortresses – a seventeenth century
gunpowder fort grafted onto a medieval castle. The new
The Cittadella is the product of a long process of bastioned enceinte was only applied along the southern
fortification and urbanization going back to prehistoric times lower part of the perimeter while the medieval trace of
but is largely known for its role as a Hospitaller stronghold. vertical walls was retained along the northern cliff face
For many centuries the site itself, taking advantage of a where the stronghold was less susceptible to attack. The
naturally fortified hill set in the centre of the island, was bastioned enceinte, which was meant to improve the
the sole refuge afforded to Gozo’s inhabitants. The small defences along the Cittadella’s most vulnerable southern
medieval castle which the Knights of St. John inherited front consisted, fundamentally, of a small crownwork, that
in 1530, occupied the site of the acropolis of the former is, a large central bastion linked by curtain walls to two
Roman city of Glauconis Civitas. This large Roman walled smaller demi-bastions, the whole commanded by two small
settlement was gradually abandoned in the course of the towering cavaliers.
troubled times associated with the Byzantine, Muslim, and
post-Norman domination of the Maltese islands, in favour The new enceinte was protected by a ditch, a covertway,
and a very steep glacis. A small ravelin shielded the
approaches to the main entrance, and a small battery
closed off the entrance to the ditch from the northern

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Cittadella

Profile of the Gozo Citadel showing
the bastioned enceinte as built in
the first decade of the 17th century
as illustrated in a contemporary
Hospitaller document.
(Image source: National Library of
Malta).

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ERDF 039 The Restoration and Rehabilitation of the Historic Fortifications of Malta

Plan of the Gozo Citadel agreed to demolish the Castello and to proceed with the
showing Antonio Maurizio construction of the new fortress at Marsalforn which was to
Valperga’s proposed new be financed by a new tax on wheat. The Gozitans protested
outer ring of fortifications. strongly and the Order, realizing that it was unequal to the
The proposal, which also tax of financing the project directly from its own resources,
included the enclosure of decided to postpone the work. The fear of attack in 1645,
the suburb of Rabat within a however, revived the criticism of the Cittadella, and the
bastioned enceinte, was not stronghold was actually mined for destruction though,
implemented. fortunately, the Ottoman fleet never appeared as it was
(Image source: National destined for Crete and not Malta.
Library of Malta).
Other serious emergencies swept the island in 1654 and
side. Despite these expensive modifications, the new 1669 and each time the need for a new fortress or improved
fortress, was not seen to have acquired any real defensive defences was rekindled. In 1670, the Italian military
advantage, given that the problem was seen to lie largely engineer Antonio Maurizio Valperga, invited to Malta by
in the Citadella’s landlocked site, deep within the heart of Grand Master Nicholas Cotoner to advise on the defences
the island. With the exception of a few engineers, they all following the fall of Venetian Candia to the Turks in the
advised the Order to abandon the citadel and construct a previous year, proposed to enclose the suburb of Rabat
new coastal fortress that could be more easily reinforced at the foot of the stronghold within a bastioned enceinte
and resupplied from Malta. In 1643 the Order actually all’Olandese, while the citadel itself was to be fitted with
counterguards and low batteries.

The Order opted to implement Valperga’s advice but in the
end, owing to other important commitments, the scheme
had to be shelved. By the eighteenth century, however,
opinion amongst the Order’s military planners had once
again shifted in favour of constructing a new coastal
fortress, and this was finally achieved with the construction
of Fort Chambrai in 1749. Nevertheless, even after the
construction of a new fortress, the Cittadella never really
lost its importance, mainly because the new city failed to
attract settlers. By the nineteenth century, the Cittadella
had lost most of its defensive value and the British military,
who took over in 1800, saw little advantage in improving or
updating any of the fortifications on Gozo.

As a matter of fact, Gozo was not to feature in the
defensive strategy adopted by the British military for the
Maltese islands, and as a result, the Cittadella was able to
survive largely intact and unadulterated by any alterations
or modifications. Today, the Cittadella is one of the most

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Cittadella

complete works of Hospitaller military architecture to be Drawing of the bastioned
found in the Maltese, notable for its dramatic and powerful land front defences of
sculptural qualities and setting. the Gozo Citadel as it
appeared in the 1700s
(Image source: National
Library of Malta).

Nature and Scope of Restoration Works

The ERDF restoration project for the Cittadella fortifications
involved three major objectives, namely:

• the restoration and repair of the ramparts’
deteriorated masonry fabric

• the rehabilitation of the main ditch and covertway

• the consolidation of the fragile cliff face along the
northern section of the enceinte

The Cittadella project was divided into four separate tasks
(or phases), namely,

CTD01: The documentation of the fortifications using both gates making up the fortified enceinte and as well as to
three-dimendional and two-dimensional recording consolidate the fragile bedrock at the foot of the northern
enceinte threatening collapse.
and mapping techniques;
CTD 02: The Restoration of the Citadel land front These interventions were undertaken in order to arrest the
fortifications; widespread processes of decay and deterioration that were
CTD 03: Provision of Geotechnical engineering heavily compromising the architectural integrity and visual
consultancy, the execution of ground investigation splendour of this unique historical monument. An important
works and installation of related monitoring part of the project involved the restoration of the covertway
system for the unstable terrain underlying the and clearing of the ditch surrounding the bastioned
ramparts; and enceinte. These areas were largely derelict and unutilized.
CTD 04: Consolidation of the unstable, fragile terrain Their restoration and rehabilitation, as a result has
extended the visitor experience to the outer works of the
underlying the enceinte and the restoration of the fortress, thereby enabling the exploration and enjoyment of
historic ramparts. a larger part of the Cittadella’s system of fortifications.

The Cittadella has a perimeter comprised of masonry
ramparts and rock-hewn counterscarps. Erosion, pollution,
vegetation, and geological factors had, over the years,
taken a heavy toll on the Cittadella’ historical fabric.
The interventions were designed to clean and repair
all the surfaces of the bastions, curtains, cavaliers and

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ERDF 039 The Restoration and Rehabilitation of the Historic Fortifications of Malta

Bastioned Enceinte

Ditch & Covertway

Cittadella’s bastioned enceinte was built from
around 1600 to 1622, replacing the southern and
most vulnerable section of an earlier medieval
perimeter. The new ramparts were designed by
the Italian military engineer Giovanni Rinaldini and
consisted of a central bastion linked by curtains two
demi-bastions and stiffened by two small cavaliers.
Externally, the enceinte was enveloped by a low
ditch, a covertway and a very steep glacis. With the
exception of the glacis, all the original elements have
survived largely intact, making the Cittadella one of
the most complete and authentic early-seventeenth
century bastioned fortification systems to be seen in
the Maltese islands. Built largely of hardstone, the
masonry fabric was nonetheless consumed through
erosion and other pathological factors and required
restoration, while the ditch was engulfed in rampant
vegetation and the covertway and counterscarp badly
damaged and consumed.

Right, View of the ditch of the Cittadella,
covered with rampant vegetation prior to
restoration.
Aerial view of the Cittadella’s bastioned
enceinte under restoration.

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