St Agatha's Tower

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St Agatha's Tower
Interior view of the Red Tower on the Marfa Peninsula in Mellieha.

The St Agatha's Tower , also known as the Red Tower due to its coloring , is a fortress in Malta that was built during the reign of the Order of St. John from 1647 to 1649 . The tower stands on the Marfa Ridge in the north of the island near Mellieħa . The tower was built at the time of the reign of Grand Master Jean de Lascaris-Castellar and is therefore also attributed to the Lascaris Towers in literature. In terms of construction, however, it corresponds to a series of six fortifications that were built during the reign of the Grand Master Alof de Wignacourt from 1609 to 1620 and are known as Wignacourt Towers . It is included in the National Inventory of the Cultural Assets of the Maltese Islands .

prehistory

The tower on a ridge monitors Mellieħa Bay . In the bays in the north of the island, corsairs repeatedly went ashore, attacked the villages on the island and dragged the population into slavery. Although these raids in themselves were not threatening to the facilities of the order located in the Grand Harbor area , they could cause considerable damage and seriously disrupt the supply of the island. The deportation of the island's indigenous population into slavery would make the island uninhabitable in the long term and thus endanger the position of the Johanniter as a whole. The construction of towers to secure possible landing sites had already begun in 1609. Additional towers were built under Lascaris between 1637 and 1640. The St Agatha's Tower closed a gap in the island's fortification system from 1649.

Origin of name

The name St Agatha's Tower can be traced back to a small chapel and an altar. This was in a shallow niche in the back wall of a vaulted room on the first floor to the right of the central window. This chapel was dedicated to Saint Agatha .

Building and construction

Construction began on December 5, 1647, and was completed on November 20, 1648. In April 1649, it was initially equipped with four cannons and was thus ready for use. The latter date is attested by the inscription on a plaque. Here again reference is made to Saint Agatha.

The tower has a square floor plan and has one floor. The tower has four corner towers that clearly tower above the main building. The curtains could be painted with flanking fire through loopholes in the flanks of the corner towers . On the first floor there are two rooms vaulted with a barrel vault. The walls of the tower were more than ten feet thick. Only one storage room was created in the basement. Access was via a stone staircase and a drawbridge to the first floor. Both the windowless base and the flat roof were accessed via stairs inside the tower. Access to the roof was via a spiral staircase, access to the storage room in the basement via a hatch. The main armament was placed behind the parapet on the roof.

The tower is surrounded by a radial, low wall. Although the floor plan of this wall is similar to that of a fortress with bastions, its construction means that it is more of a decorative element. These walls were added to the complex during the 18th century. The battlements of the corner towers also have a decorative character.

For the year 1722 the tower was armed with a total of five cannons and a peacetime crew of four soldiers. In an emergency, the crew was increased to thirty soldiers. The tower should be able to withstand a siege of forty days.

British colonial rule

At the beginning of British colonial rule, the tower was initially continued to be used. Plans from 1813 for expansion were not implemented. In 1828 the demolition of all towers, redoubts and batteries built by the knights of the order was proposed and ordered in 1832, but the St Agatha's Tower remained. Like the other towers that are no longer in use, it was handed over to the local authorities. During both world wars, however, the tower was again used by British troops.

Use after the Second World War

After the withdrawal of the British troops from the islands, the tower initially served as a radar station for the Armed Forces of Malta .

A first restoration of the tower took place between 1999 and 2001. Currently the tower belongs to Dín l-Art Ħelwa and is open to the public. A small museum is housed, which contains a rich flag decoration.

literature

  • Quentin Hughes : Malta. A guide to the fortifications . Said International, Valletta 1993. ISBN 99909-43-07-9 .
  • Stephen C. Spiteri : The Knight's Fortifications: an Illustrated Guide of the Fortifications built by the Knights of St. John in Malta . Book distributors limited, Sliema 2001. ISBN 99909-72-06-0 .
  • Charles Stephenson: The Fortifications of Malta 1530-1945. Osprey Publishing Limited, Wellingborough 2004, ISBN 1-84176-693-3 ( Osprey Fortress Series 16).

Web links

Commons : St. Agatha's Tower  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Michael Losse : Castles, palaces and noble residences in Malta. Preliminary report on the current inventory . In: Burgen und Schlösser , vol. 37 (1996), pp. 23–37, here p. 31.
  2. ↑ a b c Quentin Hughes: Malta. A guide to the fortifications , pp. 161ff
  3. ^ Stanley Farrugia Randon: Heritage Saved. Historic monuments restored by Din l-Art Helwa 1965 to 2002 . Ed .: Din l-Art Helwa. PEG Ltd, Valletta 2002, ISBN 99909-980-1-9 , pp. 23 .
  4. ^ Stanley Farrugia Randon: Heritage Saved. Historic monuments restored by Din l-Art Helwa 1965 to 2002 . Ed .: Din l-Art Helwa. PEG Ltd, Valletta 2002, ISBN 99909-980-1-9 , pp. 24 .
  5. ^ A b Charles Stephenson: The Fortifications of Malta 1530-1945
  6. ↑ a b c d Din l-Art Helwa - National Trust of Malta: St Agatha's Tower (the Red Tower), Mellieha ( Memento from February 25, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
  7. ↑ Quentin Hughes: Malta. A guide to the fortifications , p. 96

Coordinates: 35 ° 58 ′ 29 ″  N , 14 ° 20 ′ 33 ″  E