St Mark's Tower

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St Mark's Tower

The St Mark's Tower , also Qalet Marku Tower , is a fortification on Malta that was built during the reign of the Order of St. John in 1658/59 . The tower stands on a promontory called Qrejten Point on the north coast of the island of Malta near the town of Naxxar .

The tower was built between March 1658 and July 1659 in a series of thirteen watchtowers built during the reign of Grand Master Martin de Redin from 1657 to 1660. These towers are also known as de Redin Towers after him . Compared to the Wignacourt Towers , built between 1609 and 1614 , the task of these towers had changed. Much smaller and less armed, they were primarily used as observation posts, from which the garrison in Valletta and other places should be alerted when an enemy fleet approached . For this purpose, the towers, together with the Wignancourt Towers and the Lascaris Towers, were arranged within sight of each other, so that optical signals could be transmitted day and night. The tower has a direct line of sight to the Għallis Tower in the west and the Madliena Tower in the east. The construction costs of the tower amounted to 408 Scudi .

Like all other de Redin Towers, St Mark's Tower has a square floor plan. The side length is about 8 meters, the height about 12 meters. The tower had two floors, the lower floor has the shape of a truncated pyramid. In the basement there was a larger, windowless storage room. Access to the tower was via a retractable wooden ladder to the room on the first floor. The roof of the tower was provided with a low parapet from which a cannon could be fired. The roof was accessed via a spiral staircase partly built into the wall to the left of the entrance.

At the beginning of the 18th century, a redoubt was created in the immediate vicinity of the tower . These facilities were laid out by the knights of the order as largely standardized structures on various sections of the coast. The pentagonal redoubts had a low parapet, a surrounding moat and a log house at the back , which served as storage and accommodation. An inspection of the tower in 1743 found that the tower was not operational. In 1793 the tower was ordered to be equipped with a small 3-pounder cannon.

During the British colonial rule, these towers were initially still in use. In 1813, Captain Dickens proposed that the towers be reinforced and the order's coastal fortifications expanded. However, these plans did not come to fruition. In 1828, Captain Jones of the Royal Engineers suggested demolishing all the towers. He justified his suggestion with the fact that the towers would not withstand a bombardment with modern artillery for long, but an extension would be too expensive. The structural condition of the towers had deteriorated in the past few years, some were in a ruinous state, others needed repair. In 1832, Colonel Morshead, Chief Royal Engineer , ordered all towers to be demolished. Ultimately, demolition was abandoned and the existing towers were handed over to the local authorities.

The tower is owned by the Maltese government and administered by the Dín l-Art Ħelwa . It is listed under inventory number 34 on the List of Cultural Objects of Malta .

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Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Stephenson lists this tower twice as Qalet and Marku .
  2. ↑ a b c Qalet Marku Tower, Bahar ic-Caghaq. In: Dín l-Art Ħelwa, National Trust of Malta. October 6, 2011, accessed October 22, 2017 .
  3. ↑ a b c Quentin Hughes: Malta. A guide to the fortifications , pp. 95ff
  4. ↑ a b Stephen C. Spiteri: Naxxar and its fortifications
  5. ↑ Stephen C. Spiteri: 18th Century Hospitaller Coastal Batteries
  6. ↑ National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands: Qalet Marku Tower (English; PDF; 532 kB)

Coordinates: 35 ° 56 ′ 47 "  N , 14 ° 27 ′ 11"  E