Works taken in hand to restore Fort St Angelo

The regeneration of the lower part of Fort St Angelo, in Vittoriosa seems to have started not a day too soon when one takes into account the number of people and organisations that appealed to the authorities over the years to save this architectural jewel.

A troop of workers from the Ministry of Resources and Infrastructure were yesterday demolishing rooms and other structures that were built in the 1970s and 1980s when the fort was turned into a hotel of sorts.

A number of trees, among them a large ficus and several eucalyptus trees, will be uprooted to remove the danger they pose to the architectural structure.

The removal of the trees is also meant to allow the grandeur of the military fortifications to be viewed unhindered, especially at night once a floodlighting system is put in place.

Resources and Infrastructure Minister Ninu Zammit said during a visit to the fort yesterday that the general clean-up and removal of alien buildings formed part of an overall upgrading of the fort as part of a master plan for Vittoriosa by the Cottonera Rehabilitation Committee.

Works on the lower part of the fort are expected to be completed by mid-April.

Sources said the fort was being cleaned up and properly floodlit because it will serve as the venue of the main celebrations when Malta officially joins the EU on May 1.

In his book Fortresses of the Knights, Stephen Spiteri, the superintendent of fortifications, writes that the Great Siege of 1565 found Fort St Angelo a partially developed stronghold. When the siege was over, Grand Master Jean de La Valette, assured by the Pope of forthcoming financial assistance, set about repairing the battered fortifications.

The fear of a second invasion in the following year led the council to appoint a commission responsible for ensuring St Angelo's readiness to withstand another long siege.

When Napoleon arrived in Malta in 1798, the fort was one of the most powerful fortresses on the island. It was armed with about 80 guns and four mortars and garrisoned by a regiment from the Regiment of Malta.

"It was only the Order's (Order of St John) pliancy which deprived the fort's gunners from demonstrating its awesome firepower against the French ships in 1798," Mr Spiteri wrote.