A_ERDF 039 Book PDF copy

Curtain with embrasures Mdina

ERDF project survey plan showing the D’Homedes Bastion Casemated curtain with external masonry
area of intervention on D’Homedes Bastion buttress.
and its adjoining ramparts and outer works Battery of traverse (forming part
prior to the commencement of restoration of the faussebraye closing the
works (MDN 03). entrance into the land front ditch)
- contains vaulted passageway
leading to a sally-port

Bastionette (hollow work
accessed from within the
countemine tunnel inside
the main bastion)

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

ERDF project survey plan showing the
deterioration mapping on D’Homedes
Bastion’s right face, parapets, and the
battery of the traverse (MDN 03).

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Mdina

Aerial view of D’Homedes Bastion and
other elements of Mdina’s enceinte. The
bastion is shown in the final stages of
the restoration interventions, after the
scaffolding was dismantled.

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

Close-up view of the
fissures in the left flank
of D’Homedes Bastion
prior to commencement of
restoration works
Right flank of D’Homedes
Bastion prior to
commencement of
restoration works
Commencement of
consolidation works on
D’Homedes Bastion and
adjoining ramparts

Fissures on the right face
of D’Homedes Bastion prior
to the commencement of
interventions

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Mdina

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

ERDF project survey plans and
elevations showing the deterioration
mapping on D’Homedes Bastion’s
left face, parapets, and orillion
(MDN 03).

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Mdina

ERDF project survey drawings showing elevations with
deterioration mapping of the external and interior faces
of Magazine Curtain and its parapet and superior slope
prior to restoration (MDN 05).
View of the interior face of Magazine Curtain, showing
the doorways to the vaulted casemates and magazines
prior to restoration.
Magazine Curtain prior to restoration.
Door to one of the warehouses in Magazine Curtain
prior to restoration.

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

Above, Exterior face of Magazine
Curtain after restoration, showing the
rows of steel ties used to secure and
stabilize the outer face of the rampart.

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Mdina

Left, Exterior face of Magazine Curtain
prior to and after restoration (bottom).

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

Consolidation of the extrados of
the barrel-vaulted casemates in
Magazine Curtain.

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Mdina

View of Magazine Curtain
from the counterscarp
showing restoration works
in progress.

Restoration and consolidation Various views of
works in progress on Magazine Curtain
Magazine Curtain. during restoration
works.

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

View of the right flank of Mdina, as seen
from the scenic road beneath Mtarfa,
showing the fully-restored Magazine
Curtain.

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Mdina

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

St. PMetaegra’sziBnaesCtiounrtain

& the Northern Enceinte

This part of the ERDF 039 project, begun in
2014, sought to tackle the restoration of St. Peter
Bastion and Greeks Gate (MDN 07) as well as the
old medieval enceinte on the northern part of the
city, starting from St. Mary Bastion (MDN 08) and
terminating at Despuig Bastion on the eastern side of
the perimeter.
St. Mary Bastion (or Ta’ Bachar, as it was also
known) is a small bulwark dating to the early period
of the Knights’ re-fortification of the old city.
Most of the medieval enceinte consists of a flankless
trace of vertical walls, except for one location which
was reinforced by a wall-tower, that now serves as a
popular scenic viewing point for visitors to Mdina.

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Mdina

South face and flank of
St. Peter Bastion 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 and plans with deterioration
mapping of the ramparts and parapets of
St. Peter Bastion prior to restoration (MDN
07).

Greek’s Gate prior to restoration.

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St. Peter Bastion at the
commencement of restoration
works in 2015.

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

ERDF project survey drawings showing
elevations and plans with deterioration
mapping of the ramparts and parapets of
St. Mary Bastion prior to restoration (MDN
08). Left, View of St. Mary Bastion (Ta’
Bachar) at the commencement of restoration
works.

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Mdina

View of a section of Mdina’s medieval
northern enceinte prior to commencement of
restoration works.

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

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View of a section of Mdina’s
medieval northern enceinte
after restoration works.

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

Railing at Howard
Garden, Mdina

An important aspect of the visitor experience of the
historic fortifications of the old city of Mdina are the
spectacular views of the city-walls and ditch that can
be seen from Howard Gardens. This public garden
stands on what was originally, and up until the early
nineteenth century, the covertway and glacis of
the Mdina bastioned fortifications, as redesigned
by French military engineers after 1715. Initially
this covertway was open to the rear along the full
length of the counterscarp of the ditch. With the
development of these outworks into a public garden,
however, it became necessary to erect a parapet
along the crest of the covertway to safeguard visitors
and prevent them from falling into the ditch below.
With time, a heavy concrete parapet was erected all
along the full length of the ditch.
This ERDF project was designed to replace the
concrete parapet with a modern and light weight
metal railing that provides greater visibility of the
main historical elements from within the garden.

New railing being installed along the crest
of the counterscarp.
Plan of Howard Garden showing the extent
of the new railing.
New railing system.

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

Horse-Drawn Cab

Shelter, Mdina

One of the most popular services available to tourists
visiting Mdina are the horse-drawn cab rides around
the streets of the old historic city. The horse-drawn
cabs, with their distinctive and elegant carriages,are
in themselves a traditional feature and can be traced
back well into the nineteenth century. In recent
years, concern for the horses’ well being, particularly
during the hot summer months, has seen various
calls by various organizations and individuals for the
need to set up a suitable shelter which can provide
some relief to the animals from the elements. It was
decided to place this structure alongside Howards
Gardens outside the old city walls thereby providing
adequate shelter for the horses and the cab drivers.

Traditional horse-drawn cabs waiting for
customers at the entrance to Mdina.
Design for new cab shelter.

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Below, Design details of the
horse cabs terminal (Image
source: Courtesy of Perit Karm
Farrugia).

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VallettaCittà Humilissima

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

Valletta the streets’ (www.uhc.unesco.org/en/soc/1638).
The ERDF 039 projected restoration works were designed
Valletta is Malta’s most important work of fortification, to address the conservation problems inherent in the
both architecturally and historically. It stands monument consumed physical fabric of the city’s limestone ramparts,
to both the genius of European military architecture and the enceinte’s fragmentation and loss of legibility over
and engineering, as well as the skills and determination the years due to progressive deterioration.
of Maltese masons and builders. At the time of its
construction in the mid-sixteenth century, Valletta was Historical overview
considered to be a model of the bastioned fortified city
alla moderna. Built ex novo, it brought together the Valletta was the seat of the Order of St. John from 1571
latest developments in the art of fortification and military onwards and the most important fortified complex in the
architecture with a gridiron city plan creating, to cite the Maltese islands. This fortified city occupied the most
words of Martha Pollak in her book The European City at strategic high ground in the harbour area on the promontory
War, ‘a military urbanism’ that combined the new demands then known as Mount Xeberras. The site’s potential had
of artillery warfare with the passion for geometric order been recognized before the Knights’ arrival in Malta but the
– a style of design based ‘on uniformity, geometrical real commitment towards the fortification of the peninsula
clarity, control, architectural economy, and unadorned only began to materialize with the election of Grand Master
monumentality’. Jean de Valette. In June 1558 the Order’s council took
a decision to build the desired fortress to the design of
The solidity and complexity of Valletta’s extensive system the Italian engineer Bartolomeo Genga whose scheme
of fortifications make it a unique fortified city and a world envisaged the enclosure of the entire peninsula. Genga,
heritage site. Valletta was inscribed on the World Heritage however, died shortly afterwards and the project ground
List in 1980. The UNESCO website describe it as being to a halt. In 1562, Baldassare Lanci proposed to fortify
‘pre-eminently an ideal creation of the late Renaissance a smaller area instead but once again the whole project
with its uniform urban plan, inspired by neo-Platonic failed to advance further owing to the looming threat of an
principles, its fortified and bastioned walls modelled around Ottoman attack on the island.
the natural site, and the voluntary implantation of great
monuments in well-chosen locations.... one of the rare The opportunity finally presented itself after the successful
urban inhabited sites that has preserved in near entirety defence of the island in 1565. The first stone of the new
its original features ... inextricably linked to the history of fortress, with its title of Città Humilissima, designed by
the military and charitable Order of St. John of Jerusalem’, the papal engineer Francesco Laparelli, was laid down
its fortification and the uniform urban plan ‘inspired by on 28 March 1566. Work on the fortifications of the city
architectural principles of the Italian Renaissance in progressed steadily in spite of the recurrent shortages
combination with techniques of contemporary city-planning of money, labour, and building materials. Laparelli left
and aesthetic considerations of urban theorists ... the Malta in 1569, after entrusting the project to his assistant,
buildings harmoniously integrated within the uniform grille of the Maltese military engineer Gerolamo Cassar. By that
time, however, the Valletta fortifications had reached an
advanced stage in their construction. The shape and form
of the new fortress had been settled and most of the outline
of the city’s enceinte fashioned out of living rock. Apart from

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