Fort Rinella to open every day

Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna will start opening Fort Rinella on Sundays as from this week, extending public accessibility to the site to all days of the week and all year round.

Fort Rinella was built by the British to house a single 100-ton gun, first made by Lord William George Armstrong of Newcastle for the Italian navy.

Eight examples of this monster gun were purchased by the Italians to arm a new line of powerful battleships, the Duilio class.

As a result, Britain opted to obtain the same type of armament from Armstrong to secure Malta and Gibraltar against a potential Italian threat.

At the time, Malta served as a convenient British naval base along the strategic maritime route to India through the Suez Canal.

The FWA said the 100-ton gun has gone down in history as the largest muzzle-loading gun ever built. The gun could fire a one-ton shell to a distance of eight miles using 450 pounds of gunpowder. The cost of each round equalled the daily salary of an entire brigade of infantry - 2,700 men.

The 100-ton gun was far too big to be worked by hand. For this reason Sir W.G. Armstrong devised an ingenious mechanical system by which the gun would turn, dip and load in six minutes.

This gun was fired for the last time on May 5, 1905.

In Malta there were two such guns, positioned one on either side of the Grand Harbour, at Rinella and Tigne' Point.

FWA volunteers have been restoring Fort Rinella and its gun since 1991. Historical re-enactments are held from Monday to Saturday at 2.30 p.m. Guided tours are conducted in Maltese and English. Fort Rinella is open between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.