Sarria Church, Floriana

The Sarria Church in Floriana, the suburb of Valletta, was designed by  Fra' Mattia Preti and built by Maltese architect Lorenzo Gafa in 1678
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The Sarria Church is said to have been a personal votive offering by Preti to commemorate the island's deliverance from a devastating outbreak of the plague. The church is circular in plan and it displays elements of both the Classical and the Baroque styles that were prevalent in Malta at that time.

Mattia Preti was responsible for all the paintings in the Church.

St Lawrence, Vittoriosa

The Church of St Lawrence on the waterfront of Birgu is one of the oldest churches in Malta having been founded in 1090, soon after the Arabs were driven out of the island by the Normans.  Originally a small chapel, it was rebuilt in 1508. With the arrival of the Order of St John in 1530 St Lawrence became the Conventual Church and remained so until 1571 when the Order moved their seat from Vittoriosa to  Valletta.

In 1681 the Church of St Lawrence was rebuilt to the design of Maltese architect Lorenzo Gafa.  The foundation stone was laid in May 1681 and it was consecrated on 10th August that year in the presence of the newly elected Grand Master Roccaful y Perellos; the Apostolic Delegate and Inquisitor, Monseigneur Tommas Ruffo and the Bishop of Malta, Monseigneur Davide Cocco Palmieri with several members of the Council of the Order of St John

St Lawrence is a magnificent building consisting of a  principal nave and two side naves, a choir and  two large side chapels surmounted by a beautiful cupola.

After the Inquistion came to Malta and the Inquisitor took up residence in his Palace in Main Gate in Vittoriosa, the church of St Lawrence became known as the church of the Inquisitors. His seat in the church was even provided with plump velvet cushions.

Annexed to the church is the Chapter Hall and the Treasury. Among the treasures are some church  vestments brought from Rhodes, a green apparel donated by Grand Master Cardinal D'Aubusson in 1476 to the Church of St john in Rhodes, which include two dalmatics, a chasuble and a cope. There are also two other chasubles presented by Grand Inquisitors, Ruffo (1694-1698), later created Cardinal, and Chigi (1634-1639) who was elected Pope Alexander VII.

Holy Infirmary, Valleta

In 1571 the Knights of St John transferred their Convent (headquarters and seat of government) from Birgu (Vittoriosa) across the Grand Harbour, to the new city of Valletta. At the General Chapter of the Order held on 7th November 1574, during the magistry of Fra' Jean de la Cassiere (1572-82), the decision was taken to build a new conventual hospital, 'in order to provide a house or the needs of the sick who up to the present have been uncomfortably cared for at the infirmary at Birgu.'  The site chosen for the new hospital was a prominent position at the south-eastern side of Valletta, above the St Lazurus Curtain, near the entrance to the Grand Harbour.

The new hospital, which would be known as the Sacra Infermeria (Holy Infirmary), was built around a courtyard,  like the Order's great hospital at Rhodes. This building was later referred to as the Lower Courtyard or Cortile di basso. The two main wards were built at right angles, the one fronting St Lazarus Curtain was in later years known as the Old Ward or Sala vecchia, the other retained the name of Small Ward or Saletta throughout the existence of the hospital. On the other two sides of the quadrangle were a series of small rooms on two floors. The main entrance was on the North Street facade of the Old Ward, facing the esplanade of Fort St Elmo. The scale and ambition of the new hospital, and the prominence of its position  near the entrance of the Grand Harbour reflected the scared duty of caring for the sick that was at the heart of the Order of St John's identity, the duty that gave the Order its original name and which remained fundamental to the Order's  vocation.

The work and direction of the Holy Infirmary expanded greatly during the rule of Grand Master Fra' Hughes de Loubenx Verdale (1582-95). From this time on the hospital also oversaw the charitable activities of the Order; the house of unwanted infants, the hospital for women, and the refuge for prostitutes, as well as treatment outside the hospital for less serious diseases, and for poor law relief for the Maltese and the Rhodians who had followed the Knights. The hospital at Birgu (Vittoriosa) had not catered to pilgrims, few of whom passed through Malta, or or the Maltese population who had their own  hospital at Rabat. So the work of the conventual hospital at Valletta was a significant departure from the hospital at Rhodes, which had not served the Greek population.

On 4th February 1660 a decision was taken by the Order of St John to enlarge the hospital, the first stone being laid by Grand Master Fra' Raphael Cotoner (1660-63). The expansion was completed by 1666, under the rule of his brother Fra' Nicholas Cotoner (1663-1680). The Old Ward was extended in the direction of Old Hospital Street, the new extension being known as the Great Ward or Sala Grande. The join between the old and the new wards was marked by two altars placed back to back in the area where the Saletta joined the two wards at right angles. The Old Ward and the Great Ward from then on formed one continuous hall, later referred to as the Long Ward.

 At 155 metres in length, 10.5 metres in width and over 11 metres in height the Long Ward was at that time one of the largest and most impressive interiors in all of Europe. This magnificent room has a wooden coffered ceiling and its floor was paved with stone slabs. Along the walls are niches which served as latrines for the patients. Those in the Old Ward have rectangular recesses in the sides which seem seem to have been used as cupboards. The windows along the top of the wall adjoining St Lazarus Curtain provided light and air. At the far end of the hall, immediately below the ceiling are the coats-of -arms of the Order of St John and of Grand Master Fra' Gregorio Caraffa (1680-90).

In winter, the walls of the Long Ward were hung with tapestries and the beds were draped with curtains. In summer the curtains were replaced by mosquito nets and the tapestries were replaced by a series of paintings by Mattia Preti (1613-99), depicting scenes in the history of the Order of St John.( By 1881 only one of these painting had survived, illustrating Grand Master Pierre d'Aubusson in the act of venerating the Relic of the right hand of St John the Baptist. This canvas hung at the back of the hall).

It is recorded that there were 85 paintings hanging in the Holy Infirmary, including the altarpieces of the various wards.All of the larger wards were provided with an altar for the spiritual comfort patients. The altar in the Great Ward was dedicated to the Holy Trinity, that of the New Ward to Our Lady of Mount Carmel and of the Ward for the Wounded to Saints Cosmas and Damian. Other wards had altars dedicated to St. Joseph, the Finding of the Cross and St. John the Baptist.

 The number of beds in the hospital varied over the years. In 1787 its complement of beds was 563, which could be increased to 914 in an emergency, by placing 351 extra beds in the corsie or free middle space along the length of the six largest wards.  These beds were for single occupancy, in an era when many hospitals imposed a regime of bed-sharing. The Great Ward had 64 beds for the use of  patients with a fever, the acute cases being ranged on one side and the chronic cases on the other. The Old Ward had 22 beds for the treatment of civilians, members of religious communities and pilgrims with medical illnesses. The Saletta or Small Ward had 20 beds for the terminally ill. No women were allowed to enter this ward, not even close relatives of the patients.

Under the length of the Long Ward, beneath ground level runs the Sala Magazzeno Grande or Great Magazine Ward. This ward has an exquisite cross vaulted ceiling and heraldic bosses at the centre points where the groin meets the top.These bosses show in relief the Lion Rampant of Grand Master Fra' Jean de la Cassiere and the Cotton Plant of the Grand Masters Raphael and Nicolas Cotoner alternating with bosses of the Cross of the Order. The Great Magazine Ward is reached by the gradual slope of a grand balustrated staircase that descends in two flights from near the northern end of the Long Ward. The Great Magazine Ward had 109 beds for the use of sick galley slaves, for invalid sailors and soldiers from the Order's land and sea forces,and also for a few disabled men "who deserved well of the Order" and a small number of shipyard workers.

At the back of the Great Ward but not communicating with it was a block known as the Falanga which was built c1596 and enlarged in 1636 that had 120 beds. This ward was meant for the reception of patients with contagious and venereal diseases. The section reserved for the treatment of syphilis was made up of two sections, the Stufa (stove) and Falanga proper. The Stufa was a basement room containing the stove that heated the rooms above.Three rooms on ground level were where patients received hot water baths and on the first floor where the patients were taken to rest after the hot air treatment. The Falanga proper had five rooms for patients receiving mercury treatment for the same disease.

The Sacra Infermeria had other specialized wards, in advance of the normal practice at the time. The Sala per i Feriti or Ward for the Wounded  had beds for 29 civilian surgical cases. The Sala Nuova or New Ward had 21 beds for patients suffering from dysentery. The Sala di San Giuseppe or St Joseph's Ward had 20 beds for sick convicts.There were two Lithonomy Wards for patients operated on for the removal of bladder stones. The Sal dei Cavalieri of Knights' Ward had 19 beds for members of the Order of St John suffering with medical ailments. The Palombara (Dovecot) consisted of a number of small rooms wit 29 beds for contagious diseases like tuberculosis and ringworm. Two wards with 19 beds for members of the Order with surgical complaints and two rooms with 10 beds for civilian surgical cases.

One room with 18 beds was reserved for the mentally sick. In 1779 it was recommended that they be transferred to a magazine that had up to then been used for the storage of wood, as these individuals were a source of disturbance to other patients. The basement magazine had windows that opened onto Wells Street at the back of the Infirmary. Passers by used to stop and taunt the inmates and goad them into reaction. This part of Wells Street became known as the "Street of Lunatics."

In May 1679 a further room was added for the reception of patients suffering from contagious diseases and in 1687 a hall was built to house the hospital library. At the rear of the hospital close to the Falanga block was the Routa (wheel). This was a room containing a cot revolving on a vertical axis. The room communicated with the street outside by means of an aperture in the wall.Through this opening babies born out of wedlock or unwanted infants, referred to as eposti and bastardi were deposited to be take care of the the Infirmary staff. The whole apparatus was contrived to protect the identity of the person depositing the  unwanted infant.

Further enlargement of the Holy Infirmary was carried out in 1712, during the rule of Grand Master Fra' Ramon Perellos y Roccafull. These additions comprised the Upper Quadrangle bounded by Hospital, North and Merchants Streets with the main entrance or Porta principale opening onto Merchants Street. The courtyard was surrounded by the pharmacy, its laboratory and residential quarters for the medical staff and lay administrative officials. This became known as the New Hospital or Infermeria Nuova. In the centre of the Upper Quadrangle was a stone fountain decorated with the escutcheon of Perrelos y Roccafull that supplied water to the kitchen, pharmacy and the laboratory.

The supreme head of the Infirmary was the Grand Master. He visited the hospital every Friday "in procession", where on arrival he donned an apron to serve the sick and distribute food and medicines to the poor gathered in the courtyard. Ceremonial visits of the whole Convent in procession took place on Feast Days and on Maunday Thursday and on the Sundays between Easter and Ascension, when the Grand Master and other high dignitaries of the order laid aside their symbols of rank as they entered the Infirmary to attend Mass in the Great Ward. Every evening after Vespers, the priest and the clerici also came in procession to the "palace of the sick" to recite the ancient prayer which dated back to at least the time when the Order was at Acre:

       Seigneurs Malades, pries pour pais que Dieu la mande de ceil 
           en terre.
       Seigneurs Malades, pries pour le fruit de la terre que Dieu le multiplie en
          telle maniere que saincte eglise en soit servie et le peuple soustenu.
       Seigneurs Malades, pries pour l'apostell de Rome et pour les
          cardennaus et pour les patriaches et pour les arcevesques et
          pour les evesques et les prelats,-

and for the king of France, and of Germany, and of England and the King of Cyprus and of Jerusalem - that "God may give them peace and the will to conquer the Holy Land." The 'Lords the Sick' were also asked to pray for all pilgrims and for all Christians travelling by sea, that God would conduct them all in safety; and for all Christians who had fallen into the hands of the Saracens, and for all those who had given alms to the Hospital; and for the souls of their own  mothers and fathers, and for their benefactors; and finally, begging that the good God would give them peace, the petition closing with the Pater Noster.

The Great Ward of the Hospital

From the 1584 Edition of the Statutes

The official head of the Infirmary was the Grand Hospitaller, Pilier of the Langue of France. This position was one of the highest dignities in the Order of St John. The French knights were so jealous of this privilege that they "acknowledged no superior authority but that of the Grand Hospitaller", who alone was permitted to enter the infirmary without leaving at the door the insignia of his office, a requirement to which all others, of no matter what rank were required to submit. Not even the Inquisitor was permitted to set foot within the Infirmary without prior permission.

Fra' Joseph de Limerie Des Choisy

Grand Hospitaller 1729

(St Johns Church, Clerkenwell)

It was the prerogative of the Grand Hospitaller to appoint the Infirmirian who was the senior knight responsible for the day to day administration of the hospital. The Infirmirian had an apartment on the upper floor of the Infiremeria Nuova emblazoned with the coats of arms of eighteen Infirmerians who had governed the hospital from 1681-1765. These armorial bearings ran in a frieze beneath the ceiling around the wall of the apartment. The Infirmerian was a professed knight who like the Grand Hospitaller belonged to the French Langue. He had the dinner and supper bells rung to summon all the officials who ensured that the food was properly served to the patients and that the beds were clean and comfortable.

The Holy Infirmary was professionally staffed by well qualified and experienced medical and surgically trained staff, who had often studied abroad in Italy, and in France. Regulations drawn up in the 17th century stipulated that three doctors and one surgeon must sleep in the Hospital every night. By 1725 the  professional staff consisted of three resident senior physicians, three resident junior physicians, three resident surgeons, two junior surgeons (practtici) six barber-surgeons (barberotti) and a phlebotomist for blood-letting who was helped by two assistants for the application of leeches, cataplasms and blisters. The principal surgeons and physicians served in teams in the hospital for a month at a time, overlapping with their successors for three days. They visited the wards daily and recorded on a tablet, which hung at the head of each bed, the food and remedies prescribed. A general consultation was obligatory once a week for all doctors and their salary was docked if they failed to attend it. A medical school was opened by the Jesuits in 1595, and  in 1676 the Holy Infirmary became a teaching hospital, with its own School of Anatomy and Surgery, established by Grand Master Nicholas Cotoner. Nursing was carried out by fourteen so-called servants or guardians (servi or guardi). Forty-four baptized slaves and Turks selected from the slave prison were forced to do the cleaning, washing and all the other menial work..

The distribution and serving of food to the sick at meal times was the duty of the novice knights. Service in the hospital was obligatory once a week for all novices at the Convent with members of each Langue having  a day of the week in which they were on duty. At the stroke of the big bell of St John's each morning the knights on duty processed to the hospital. The Langue of Provence was on duty on Sundays, Auvergne on Monday, France on Tuesday, Italy on Wednesday, Aragon on Thursday, Germany on Friday and Castille on Saturday. While there were knights who voluntarily  nursed the sick, the regular visits were confined to feeding the patients. A small table, covered with a cloth and with water and salt upon it was placed beside each bed. The food was brought into the middle of the ward where an official read out the name of each patient and the diet he had been ordered, which was then carried to the bedside by a knight. Great emphasis was placed on the importance of a proper diet in the care of the sick. Rice, vermicelli, herbs and chicken were provided for the very ill, while the stronger patients were offered meat.pigeon, game sausage and potatoes.

The knights and civilians were provided with silver soup bowls, cups, spoons, and plates, however the slaves and convicts were only given pewter utensils. The silver was provided to the Infirmary at various periods by the Langues of France, Italy and Aragon and also the Common Treasury. When the Order was still at Rhodes, the Arangonese knight Fra' Giovanni de Villaragut, Castellan of Amposta, had endowed the Infirmary with a yearly sum of money to meet the comfort of the sick including the provision of silver plate. It is for this reason that the crest of the Commandery of Villaragut was chosen in 1684 to mark the Holy Infirmary silver to facilitate its identification and safeguard against theft. By 1725 the Holy Infirmary possessed 1150 pieces of table silver but in 1795 owing to the financial predicament of the Order at that time part of this plate had been sold.

Reporting to the Infirmirian, were two knights called Prud Hommes or Comptrollers who were in charge of the expenditure of the hospital. They also distributed alms, soup and old linen to the poor and supervised the management of the hot baths and mercurial anointing. The Prud Hommes  had their own secretar(scrivano), who noted everything that concerned their work in separate books. They supervised the work of the  linciere who was a secular, in charge of the linen, furniture, laundry and hospital equipment, making sure that everything was properly maintained and repaired. A steward or butler (bottigliere)was in charge of  the wine bread and oil etc which was supplied to the patients according to the vouchers of the comptrollers. An under clerk noted the food prescribed by the doctors and handed the list to the comptrollers. The armourer (armoriere)  was usually a servant-at-arms who was responsible for looking after the cleanliness and security of the silver plate. Two cooks, a purveyor and assistants provided meat for the allowances, which they could not receive in the kitchen until inspected by the comptrollers.

Following the capture of the Malta by Napoleon in 1798 and the expulsion of the Order of St John, the Holy Infirmary was taken over by the French for their sick soldiers and sailors. When the French left Malta two years later the former Holy Infirmary remained in use by the British garrison until 1920, when a new hospital was built at Mtarfa. The old hospital was then turned into the headquarters of the Malta police. At the outbreak of World War 2 in 1939 the police evacuated the building which was hit and severely damaged by the aerial bombardment. Of the great complex of hospital buildings, only the Great Ward, the oldest part of the Holy Infirmary survived. It is used today as The Mediterranean Conference Centre.

www.mcc.com.mt/

Fort St Angelo

 Occupying a commanding position at the centre of the Grand Harbour, Fort St Angelo stands at the tip of the Birgu promontory. It is thought that a temple built by the Phoenicians to the goddess Astarte (Juno), known throughout the Mediterranean world and identified with the evening star stood on the site of Fort St Angelo until about AD 878 when it is believed the first fortification, an Arab fort, was built on the promontory. A small fishing village or suburb grew up alongside the castle beside the harbour and became known as Il Borgo del Castello or Il Borgo. Later it became known as Birgu and after the siege of 1565 as Citta Vittoriosa.

The Arabs held Malta until 1090 when Roger the Norman, Count of Sicily landed on the island and drove them from the castle. In that year he excavated the small troglodytic church dedicated at first to the 'Mother of God' and after the siege of 1565, to the 'Nativity of Our Lady.' In 1220 the Hohenstaufen Emperor, Frederick II appointed a castellan for Malta, who will of course required suitable accommodation. The first mention of the Castrum Maris (Castle by the Sea) is found in documents from 1240. The tower at the north-west corner of the Magistral Palace may even date back to the 12th century. Another reference to the Castrum Maris is from the short period of Angevin rule (1266-1283). From 1283 the islands were under Aragonese rule, although the castle held out for the Angevins for some time after the rest of the islands had fallen. There is no record of when the castle first became known as St Angelo, but a Count de Melfi held the islands  in 1352-53 and his Christian name was Angelo so he may have given his name to the fort.

In 1425 the islands were mortgaged by King Alfonso V of Spain to the Viceroy of Sicily for 30,000 gold florins and a little later the mortgage was transferred to Don Gonsalvo de Monroy, who when he tried to exploit the Maltese caused such resentment that he had to flee the islands and for his own safety and  it decided to shut his wife up in Fort St Angelo until the King and Viceroy had arbitrated in the dispute, The result was the Maltese were enabled to buy the mortgage for themselves. The islanders were given the revenue of the islands for 10 years, in which to pay themselves back, provided that they pay for the upkeep of the garrisons of St Angelo and Notabile (Mdina). About 1430 the Governorship of the Castle was given to a member of the de Nava family and with it the title of Castellano and this appointment was to become hereditary to the family. The de Navas built a palace at  the top of the rock known then as the House of the Castellan of Malta and also the chapel for their private worship, dedicated to St Anne.

In the year 1520 at the eastern end of the Mediterranean the Knights of St John were under mounting pressure in the island of Rhodes, seat of the Order, due to the strength and proximity of the Turks. Charles V of Spain persuaded by Pope Clement VII, was anxious for the Order of St John to garrison Malta, because he could rely on their military power to guard this vital outpost of his empire against the growing threat posed by the Turks. The Viceroy of Sicily therefore arranged for the Order to take over the Governorship of St Angelo. Fra' Alphonse Pardall, a Servant-at-Arms assumed the governorship of St Angelo from Alvarez de Nava in June 1526. (A pension was awarded to de Nava in recognition of the renunciation of his hereditary rights.)

On 20th June 1530 Commander Fra' Aurelio Botigella, Knight of the Order took over command of the Maltese islands and at the same time Commander Fra' Pierre Pitoijs with a company of infantry occupied Fort St Angelo.  On 26 October 1530 the Grand Master, Fra' Phillipe de L'Isle-Adam landed on  Malta and took up residence in  Fort St Angelo. Within the walls of the fort were a whole range of buildings, for accommodating the garrison, defence, observation, kitchens, storage, and worship. On the uppermost level was the Magistral Palace formerly known as the House of the Castellan. There were also the tiny Church of Our Lady and the Chapel of St Anne. The Council of the Order  were also accommodated within the Fort, while the remainder of the Knights and refugees from Rhodes had to find accommodation in Birgu. Under the Knights of St John, Fort St Angelo and Birgu became the center of power in Malta. The peninsula's adjacent creeks, Kalkara Creek on the one side and the Galley Port (Dockyard Creek) on the other offered shelter for the Order's fleet, during even the roughest of weather.

The commission sent by the Grand Master in 1525 to Malta had reported that Fort St Angelo was partly in ruins, its whole artillery consisting of one small mortar, two falcons and a few iron mortars. Therefore despite the sorry state of the Order's Treasury de L'Isle-Adam embarked as a priority  the improvement of the fort's defences and he employed the Florentine engineer, Piccino, to draw up proposals for the improvements and repairs. Piccino designed a massive square cavalier with two chamfered corners on the landward end of the fort. This formed a platform from which the guns could fire onto the harbour entrance, supporting Fort St Elmo and out across the land front of Birgu. Below the cavalier a broad ditch was excavated, capable of securing the galleys and in effect turning the fort into an island.  The imperative was to improve St Angelo's defences; the fort's greatest weakness was that it was dominated by the Scibberas peninsula, on which, in 1566, the new city of Valletta was to be built. The piled up character of Fort St Angelo, like a typical medieval castle, was due to the need to try and match the height of the peninsula opposite.

The Order had barely been established on Malta when it was beset by a serious crisis. In 1531 the Order suffered a serious setback with the defeat of an expedition to Modon in Greece and at the same time  a fratricidal dispute between the Knights of the French and Italian languages. Then to make maters worse when the majority of the Convent had accompanied the Grand Master to Notabile (Mdina) on 29th June the Turkish slaves mutinied and tried to capture Fort St Angelo. The mutiny was however repressed.

Improvement of the fort's defences not with standing the Grand Master's highest priority was the restoration and rebuilding of the Chapel of St Anne. The Chapel and the Castellan's House were remodelled and restored by the Order's Ingeniere e Soprastante dell'Opere, the Portugese, Fra' Diego Perez di Malfriere While it is known that the chapel had been built by the De Nava family soon after they occupied St Angelo the size and scope of the original building are not known.The present chapel is that which was rebuilt by de L'Isle-Adam. It has a simple graceful facade with a round arched door leading into the nave and above it a single elliptical window light.  In the centre of the facade, as in many small Maltese churches is a bell-cot.

In the interior all the central arches of both the Nave and Transept rest on a single pillar of Egyptian granite. It seems likely that this pillar once formed part of the old temple of Astarte or Juno and therefore dates back to 1500 to 1000 BC.

According to the memorial plaque in the Chapel of St Anne, Grand Master de L'Isle-Adam died on August 22nd 1534. He was buried in the Crypt of the Chapel of St Anne.The south wall of the small chapel still carries the white marble commemoration stone of the burial of de L'Isle-Adam in the crypt of the chapel. A translation of the inscription reads,:-

"Brother Phillipus de Villiers L'Isle-Adam, Master of the Hospital of Malta, and wishing to restore his order, which was collapsing, and to rest after ten years of peregrination, fixed his abode in Malta where already beyond his seventieth year, he desired to be buried in this chapel dedicated to the name of Jesus. He died in the year of salvation 1534 on 22nd August".

In the scroll in the base of the tablet is inscribed in Latin:- "This tablet was placed by Fra' Anthony de Grolea., great worshipper of his glory during life, and of his memory after death".

Fra' Pietro del Monte was the next Grand Master and he died soon after on 18th November 1535 and was also buried in the crypt of St Anne.

Fra' Didier de St Jaille was the next Grand Master but he did not live long enough to take up residence in St Angelo as he died in Montpellier on his way to Malta on 26th September 1536.

Work to  improve the defences of St Angelo continued under the direction of Pellequin as Lieutenant for  Didier St Jaille. A battery was constructed overlooking Kalkara Creek, then known as the English Harbour, 3 guns facing the Borgo and 5 towards the harbour entrance. The ditch separating St Angelo and the Birgu was widened and deepened. At that time there was a narrow causeway at the Kalkara end from Birgu to the sheer wall of the Fort. The only other access to the Fort was by a movable wooden drawbridge at the Port of Galleys or Dockyard Creek end of the ditch.

Grand Master Fra' Juan D'Homedes ruled Malta from 1536 to 1553. He obtained the services of  Antonio Ferramolino, engineer to the King of Spain who in 1542 built and armed the Cavalier, "that they might see what passed in the port of Marsamuxetto". In this Cavalier are three are three long chambers probably used for accommodation quarters.Antonio Ferramolino also built the D'Homedes Bastion on the south west corner of the Fort. During D'Homedes reign Fort St Angelo was the setting for the trial of Commander de Valliers, Marshal of the Order held for the loss of Tripoli. D'Homedes died on 6th September 1553 and was buried in the crypt of St Anne's.

After their occupation of St Angelo the Knights  also restored and repaired the old House of the Castellan of Malta in order to turn it into a suitable Magistral Palace. Standing on the highest part of the fort, the palace was enlarged and beautified with stuccoes, frescoes and mosaics and surrounded by gardens and courtyards, including a grotto or Nymphaeum.

The Castellan's hall was turned into the high council chamber and encased with extra rooms to the east and a series of new buildings to the south and with a staircase and loggias to the west. One of the glories of this building remains the medieval window retained from the earlier building, a double window divided by a slim column with a carved capital; the capital is itself surmounted by a palm tree carved in relief.

Fra' Claude de la sengle was the next Grand Master to rule in Malta and it seems that the building on the opposite shore of Dockyard Creek must have commenced in his reign as he gave his name to the city still known as Senglea. On 23 rd October 1555 a great storm developed of such violence that it shook the Fort and carried away its flagstaff and Grand Standard of the Order. La Sengle died in August 1557 and was the last Grand Master to be buried in the Chapel of St Anne. He was succeeded by Fra' Jean Parisot de la Valette probably the greatest Grand Master to rule the Order of St John.

Grand Master Fra' Jean De La Valette (c1750) 

by Antoine Favray (1706-1792)

La Valette made good use of the relative peace at the start of his reign to strengthen the defences of Malta. In 1564 when the Order's spies at the Sublime Porte reported that an invasion was being planned  a great stone bollard was hewn from the living rock to fasten one end of the great chain stretched across the Port of Galleys to Senglea to protect the harbour.  A sea level battery of 5 guns was also constructed at this north west point to protect the boom and during the siege that followed cause to cause much damage to the Turks.

The Turkish invasion Fleet arrived off the Grand Harbour on 18th May 1565. By this time Fort St Angelo's defences consisted of St Angelo's Battery, D'Homedes Battery, La Vallette Battery, the Cavalier Battery and two batteries facing the entrance to the Grand Harbour. According to the historian of the Order Vertot the garrison of St Angelo during the siege consisted of 50 Knights and 500 soldiers and sailors. La Valette himself did most of his fighting in the Birgu using St Angelo as his headquarters and as an observation post to monitor the Turkish troop movements.

During the Siege more than 10 000 people died within four months. Those who died in the Fort were buried there because there was no access to cemeteries outside.

Fort St Elmo fell after 31 days of the assault and when the mutilated bodies of of the Knights of the Order were seen floating past St Angelo the garrison is reported to have replied by firing from their guns the heads of all their Turkish prisoners into the Turkish camps. Senglea, Birgu and Fort St Angelo held out until 8th September, 1565 when the siege was raised by the arrival of a relief force.

Crystal cross of Grand Master Fra' Jean de la Valette (1557-1568)

Crystal and gold, 16th century

Given by Pope Pius V to Valette

Engraved with , one conquers 10,000, referring to the Great Siege

(St John's Clerkenwell)

After the siege, St Angelo which had been considerably damaged was thoroughly repaired, but from then on the new city of Valletta, named in honour of the heroic Grand Master was to become the seat of the Convent and stronghold of the Order of St John. Grand Master Fra' Jean Parisot de la Valette died on 21st August 1568 at the age of 74. He lay in state in the Chapel of St Anne from the 21st August to the 25th August but was buried in the crypt of the Church of Our Lady of Victory in the new city of Valletta built by him and later moved to the crypt of the new Conventual Church of St John.

The new Grand Master Fra' Pietro del Monte concentrated all the Order's resources into building the new city of Valletta and its defences. The Convent of the Order was moved to Valletta on 8th March 1571 and it is probable that the Grand Master moved also, because he certainly ordered his Knights to do so. From this time on it is unlikely that any Grand Master ever lived  in Fort St Angelo.The Magistral Palace was probably used as the residence of the Governor of the Fort but there is no direct evidence until 1714 when the Coats-of-Arms of Governors until 1792 were painted in the hall of the Palace.However in 1581 when Grand Master de la Cassiere was deposed he was imprisoned in Fort St Angelo until  reinstated by the Pope.

The Chancery of the Order refers to a tower used as a prison for the Knights. One Claudio Gyran was sentenced to three months in the tower on 10th November 1530 for twitching the beard of a destitute Maltese. Fort St Angelo became the principal state prison of the Order of St John.

The oldest prison discovered in the Fort is the oubliete hewn out of the living rock just inside the main gate. There are many messages in Latin and carvings cut into the walls, also dates, the earliest being 1548. It seems probable from some of the messages carved that as a general rule those who were incarcerated here did not return to their previous life.

In 1681 Don Carlos de Grunenberg, engineer to the King of Spain inspected the Fort and found it in a poor state of repair. With the consent of Grand Master Fra' Gregorio Caraffa he began alterations and improvements in 1687. Besides the repairs, he added a battery facing the entrance to the Grand Harbour at sea level and he also prepared the top battery. The North West corner of the Fort still bears the name Grunenbergh Battery. With the continued encouragement of Grand Master Fra' Adrien de Wignacourt and the use of his own money the work was completed in 1690. An inscription in Latin above the Main Gate bears testimony to this.

"Under the happy auspices of Grand Master Adrien Wignacourt and by the previous consent of Grand Master Caraffa, Fort St Angelo, once a renowned temple of Juno but now a strong bulwark of Christendom, was restored by Charles Grunenberg, Knight of Devotion and Commander in the Army of the Catholic king; he contributed his talents and his money to restore to a better condition this fort, decayed by age, in the year of Salvation 1690, the first of the Magistery."

Overlooking the Fort's high entrance gate is the massive bulk of the cavalier tower, topped by St Angelo Bell, a bronze bell between two pillars dating from 1716, one of the sentry bells which was sounded by the Knights on occasions of rejoicing or as a warning of approaching danger. Inside the main gate is a barrel- vaulted guard room.

From the main gate a steeply ascending ramp leads to the first tier of batteries and continues to the Upper Fort, where there is a large parade ground, at the end of which stands the cavalier, a lofty and massive building, its summit forming a gun emplacement, its interior used as accommodation for soldiers. On this level are the remains of the tiny Church of the Nativity built by Roger of Normandy in 1090 and the oldest Christian church on the island. Another short ramp leads from the parade ground to the next battery level, and thence by a short flight of steps through a tunnel in the ramparts to the summit, where the Magistral Palace stands close to the Chapel of St Anne.

The last major work on the Fort carried out by the Order of St John was the restoration of the D'Homedes Bastion in 1769. In 1789 Fort St Angelo, along with the rest of the island's fortresses fell to Napoleon then at the height of his powers. However the French did not hold Malta for long and they surrendered to the British in 1800. The Royal Navy soon began transforming the built environment of Vittoriosa and the two creeks on either side. In 1912 Fort St Angelo was commissioned as the 'base ship' for the Mediterranean fleet. During the Second World War St Angelo became a potent symbol of Malta's heroic defiance. HMS St Angelo nearly 1000 years old with the White Ensign and Admiral' flag flying from high from the top of the ramparts symbolized the Maltese peoples resistance. After a 180 year military presence in Malta the British withdrew from St Angelo and from Malta on 31 March 1979.

An historic treaty between the Maltese government and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM) reached in 1998, allowed the Knights of St John to reoccupy the upper level of the Fort including the Magistral Palace and the Chapel of St Anne. The agreement has a duration of 99 years.

Fort Ricasoli

The entrance to the Grand Harbour is flanked by two promontories, on one side the tip of the Scibberas peninsula and on the other Gallows Point or the Rinella Peninsula. The strategic importance of these promontories was recognised soon after the Knights arrived: in 1552 Fort St.Elmo was erected to command the entrance to the Grand Harbour. Gallows point was left unfortified and during the Great Siege of 1565 the Turks erected a gun battery there which they used to bombard Fort St.Elmo.

In the late 1630's the Order's engineers proposed that  the peninsula was fortified. However the Knights resources were already stretched with the construction of the Sta. Margherita Lines, so nothing further was done beyond the construction of a tower in 1629 whose purpose was not defence but to prevent the escape of slaves. The peninsula was popularly named for the gallows which stood at the entrance of the Grand Harbour, symbol of the Knight's justice to those arriving at Malta. It was not until 1670 that work began on fortifying the peninsula.

The design of the fortification was the work of Antonio Maurizio Valperga as part of his scheme for the fortification of the whole harbour. Work began in June 1670, thanks to the generosity of the Knight Fra' Giovanni Francesco Ricasoli who donated 20 000 scudi towards its construction.  The Council decided to name the fort in his honour. Work proceeded rapidly and by 1693  was almost complete.

Fort Ricasoli  had its most potent defences along the narrow land-front at the neck of the peninsula that was protected by three powerful bastions from which thrust forward two long pointed ravelins. It therefore took the form of a crown-work. The rest of the enciente was defended by curtain walls that followed the irregular cliff edge of the peninsula.

In September 1686 the Council issued instructions for the construction of the governor's house. This was built above the main gate, a fine Baroque edifice with spiral columns facing Kalkara Creek. The governor's house was destroyed and the gate badly damaged in the bombing of 1941.

In 1696 work began on the chapel dedicated to St. Nicholas which was dedicated two years later.

During the winter of 1697-8 the final touches to the fort were added, the arms of the Order, of Fra' Nicholas Cotoner and Chevalier Ricasoli were fixed above the entrance, the governor was appointed,  artillery installed and the garrison moved in, the latter provided for by the Cotonera Foundation set up for the purpose by Nicholas Cotoner in 1674. In 1716 the garrison was 2000 .

Fort Ricasoli served two vital, tactical purposes. Its guns covered the approaches and entrance to the Grand Harbour and it also had to be able to withstand a direct assault on the land-front. Even so its defensive capabilities remained open to criticism. The engineer de Tigne was particularly critical of the land front and produced a number of proposals for strengthening it. But it was only under the threat of a Turkish invasion in 1722 that his advice was taken to strengthen the covert-way and glacis.

Because of the fort's exposed position it was decided to reface the sea wall in 1761. Later on in the 18th century the fort underwent a further extensive programme of renovations and repairs.

Sta.Margherita Lines (Firenzuola Lines)

The vulnerability of Vittoriosa to bombardment from the heights of Salvatore and Sta. Margherita was demonstrated in the Great Siege of 1565. For three months the Vittoriosa land-front was subjected to a continuous barrage, the guns only pausing to allow the Turkish infantry to attack. After the siege the fortifications of Vittoriosa were rebuilt and then strengthened by the addition of the cavaliers of St. John and St. James in 1588.  This however did not address the fundamental weakness of the site. The solution would be to deny the heights to the enemy by enclosing them in a new line of fortifications.

In 1638 Vicenzo Masculano da Firenzuola was invited to Malta by the Grand Master, Jean Paul Lascaris Castellar. He was an Italian born in 1578 who became a Dominican Cardinal and was later Vicar General of his Order. He was a friend of Galileo Galilei and was one of the most distinguished military engineers of the day. He placed his proposals before the Council on 28th September and recommended the encirclement of the Sta. Margherita hills. He envisaged a semi-circular enciente, enclosing Bormla, with six bastions and curtain walls linking them  to the Vittoriosa and Senglea land-fronts. The Council approved the plan and the foundation stone was laid, with due ceremony, by Grand Master Lascaris on 30th December 1638.

Sta. Helena Gate (1736)

The decision to implement Firenzuola's plan did not prevent criticism from other engineers, among them Claudio Riccardo, Domenico Guazzo and Nicholas-Francois Blondel. They considered  the design far too ambitious and costly. The critics notwithstanding, work on the lines continued until 1645 when a lack of funds caused work to stop. For the next twenty years the lines were all but abandoned.

Verdala Gate (1736)

Work on the Sta. Margherita Lines did not resume until 1715 under the direction of French engineer the Bali de Tigne.  During the magistry of Manoel de Vilhena the Sta. Margherita Lines were finally completed, in 1736.

Sta. Helena Curtain