Towering over the three cities and the Grand Harbour is none other than Fort St Angelo. Set on the highest part of Birgu and, except for the past year, accessible only through a steep climb lies this impregnable bulwark. The setting of this fort was anything but a case of fortuity, set on the highest part of the Birgu peninsula and at its tip it guards the entrance to the harbour and surveys all around it making it the ideal place to build a fort.
The first historical records mentioning some kind of defensible structure on top of this hill go back to the Byzantine era. Following that, legend says that Count Roger, who won back the islands from its Muslim rulers back in 1901, built here a chapel in honour of Archangel Michael and from then on the site was known as St Angelo. By 1274 a castrum maris (castle by the sea for those not versed in Latin), was built. This was the residence of the Sicilian castellani who, appointed by the emperor of Sicily to act as feudal lords, frequently worked the Maltese farmers to the bone to recover the money they would have invested. One such lord was the infamous Gonsalvo Monroy whose wife and soldiers were kept prisoners at the Castrum Maris when the Maltese revolted against his harsh ways.
Fort St Angelo was transformed into the fortification we see nowadays with the arrival of the Knights of the Order of Saint John in 1530. Being a naval force the Order decided to settle in a place from where they could see their galleys that is Birgu. The building, immediately recognized as having potential in merit of its position, was refurbished and by 1547 was transformed into an unassailable fortification. It played a seminal role in the Great Siege of Malta in 1565 where battle after battle attacks from here thwarted the Ottomans attempts in taking the Islands under their hands. Once the Knights moved to Valletta the fort’s importance diminished, still it was used as an important military base guarding the entrance to the Grand Harbour and, thanks to the Knight’s arrival, the thriving maritime community that now lived in the Grand Harbour region. Parts of it were also used as a prison with one very infamous painter being kept there. We are speaking about none other than Caravaggio de Merisi who, having been immediately welcomed, fussed over and even made a Knight; fell out of grace with the Order following a brawl.
The British also used Fort St Angelo for military purposes with battalions being posted there. Considering the latest developments in military technology the fort was rendered almost useless. It was in fact used by the Brits also as a recovery place for injured soldiers. It however took on a brief breath of life during the Second World War when 3 Bofors guns operated first by the Royal Marines and following by the Royal Malta Artillery where placed there. The fort, as well as much of the Cottonera and the Grand Harbour area, suffered a lot of damage during this period and only now has it been completely renovated. Of particular interest is the Naval Cinema installed here in the early 20th century, one of the earliest cinemas on the island; this was used mostly by servicemen and eventually it fell in disuse.
As you can see there are plenty of stories directly tied to Fort St Angelo – an aristocratic lady held hostage, an infamous escaped prisoner and also the famous ghost of the Grey Lady, who murdered by mistake, some say still haunts the premises, so why don’t you join us for a tour to see firsthand the site of these exciting stories!
