Fort St. Angelo is the jewel in the crown of Malta's rich military heritage. It stands majestically at the tip of the promontory of Citta' Vittoriosa or Birgu, as it is popularly known, dominating the Three Cities on the South Eastern side of the Grand Harbour.

Its origins are shrouded in the history of the Middle Ages, though some historians would even venture to state that it stands on the site of a fortified Roman settlement.

In the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Century, the Castello a Mare, as it was known, was occupied by the Aragonese and the Anjevins. The Castellan had a measure of autonomy from the Universita' (Town Council) at Mdina, the Old Capital. He was responsible for the residents of Birgu. The families of De Guevara and De Nava were associated with the Castle for many years and the latter family had to hand over the castle to the Order of St. John, when the Knights landed on the shores of Malta in 1530.

The Knights soon busied themselves fortifying the place and turned it into a strong point that had to face up to any attack by the Ottoman Turks. The Castle soon became a veritable fortress, and, thirty-five years later, in 1565, was to repulse a formidable Turkish Armada which besieged the Island for three months. it was the headquarters of Grand Master Jean De La Vallette, who led the local force of some 600 Maltese and mercenaries men-at-arms against the repeated onslaughts of the Muslim invaders. The epic resistance of the defenders of the Fort, during the First Siege, is the epitome of all that symbolises the character and determination of the Maltese.

The Fort underwent various changes in the years when the Order of St. John ruled the Maltese islands. The defence works added by the military engineer Grunenburgh, in 1689, gave the Fort the outline that survives today. Grunenburgh's coat of arms still dominates the Main Gate of the Fort on Birgu Quay.

in the Nineteenth Century, the British took over the Fort and added further structures. After 1912, the Fort served as a shore establishment of the Royal Navy and it was officially listed as a ship, first under the name of H.M.S. Egmont and, in 1933, it was renamed H.M.S. St Angelo.

During the Second World War it was extensively damaged by air attack, because of its proximity to the dockyard area. Between 1940 and 1943, the Fort suffered sixty-nine direct hits.

In recent years, the Maltese Government granted the Order of St. John the right to occupy the upper part of the Fort, comprising the Magisteral Palace and St. Anne's Chapel, and restoration works on these parts of the Fort are scheduled to be completed in the coming months.

FORT ST. ELMO

Although there are records of Maltese personnel manning the site as far back as 1417, the actual fort was built by the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem in 1552, with an impending Ottoman Turk invasion in mind. It was constructed on the design of Pietro Pardo, and had the aim of guarding the entrances to the two harbours on either side of Mount Sceberras peninsula.

Fort St. Elmo had the shape of a four pointed-star, with a cavalier protecting it from the seaward side and one ravelin offering protection from land.

When the feared invasion did take place in 1565, the stage was set for one of the most glorious, though tragic, moments of Maltese military history. The Turks realised that to secure safe anchorage for their fleet in either of the two harbours flanking the peninsula, they would first have to neutralize Fort St. Elmo. They therefore launched a massive and desperate attack on this outpost, including a continuous bombardment from the heights of Mount Sceberras. On June 23, 1565, the 600 or so defenders of the Fort fell to the last man, as they were overcome by the vast Turkish hordes, following a month long siege.

With the end of the Great Siege, Fort St. Elmo was restored and during the course of the seventeenth century, a new enceinte was constructed around the Fort, thereby connecting it to the new city of Valletta.

It was at this Fort that Malta's involvement in the Second World War registered its first victims, during a bombing raid by the Regia Aeronautica effected on the day after Italy declared war, on 11 June 1940.

In July 1941, the Fort was again on centre-stage when its Maltese defenders proved instrumental in the repulsion of an Italian E-Boat attack on a recently-arrived convoy in Grand Harbour.

Fort St. Elmo's vigilant days are now over, and the upper part of the Fort is today utilised by the Maltese Police Force as a Police Academy. The lower part owes its more recent fame as the site for the shooting of the film "Midnight Express".