Heritage Day at Fort Rinella

Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna will be holding a special heritage day at Fort Rinella this Sunday between 10am and 5pm to mark the launch of a new audio-visual production illustrating the history of the fort and its monster 100-ton gun.

This production was produced by Legwork Productions for FWA on a script by Guy Williams based on historical research conducted by Mario Farrugia. The new production combines modern footage, with original views of the gun, its steam driven machinery and the fort, historical re-enactments by the fort’s garrison and computer generated imagery to reconstruct aspects of the fort and gun which no longer survive and also to show how the 100-ton gun worked. It also maps the ongoing evolution of naval design vis-à-vis land-based artillery throughout the 19th century.

To produce this film, overseas onsite location filming was also undertaken at Gibraltar, Portsmouth Dockyard, Fort Nelson also in Portsmouth, Newcastle and Bristol. The film features interviews with international experts in the fields of historic naval construction, artillery and warfare.

Two versions were produced – a shorter version for viewing at Fort Rinella as part of the overall visitor experience at the site, and a longer version for home viewers which can be obtained from all FWA heritage sites.

The production was made possible through a grant received from the Lotteries Good Causes Fund managed by the Ministry for Finance.

To mark this occasion, FWA will be holding an all-day Heritage Day at Fort Rinella between 10.00am and 5.00pm. Throughout this day, the new film will be viewed every hour. Historical re-enactments recreating aspects of past garrison life in the fort will also be staged with the main one starting at 2.15pm.

During these re-enactments original cannon of the time will be fired along with a host of period weaponry. Period military food will also be served throughout the day namely army soup and hard-tack biscuits. Guided tours around the fort will be offered by FWA volunteers both in Maltese and English. A special introductory is also being offered on the new film on DVD for home use– one free DVD will be given to any paying family group. Entrance to the fort inclusive of all guided tours, viewing of audiovisual and historical re-enactment shows costs €13 per adult and €23 per family group.

Video shows the opening part of the audio visual production.