One cannot but note with satisfaction the organised and professional restoration works underway on the old historic walls of Vittoriosa. This is thanks to a team of enthusiastic architects and experts who have put together the necessary resources and installations to good use and no less thanks to the wise decision to join the European Union from where the funding is coming. Otherwise, these bastions were literally bound to disintegrate!
It should be recalled that Fort St Elmo, Fort St Michael and Vittoriosa were the theatre of the Great Siege of 1565. Fort St Elmo, while retaining its original star-shaped format, was subsequently merged into the Valletta fortifications. Senglea’s Fort St Michael was unfortunately dismantled to make way for the government primary school. However, the defences of Birgu are still those that withstood the 1565 siege and brought victory to the old city, which Grand Master de la Valette renamed Vittoriosa.
The original design of the Birgu defences was not the result of restoration made after 200 years under the French engineer, Mondion.
The year 1722 inscribed on one of the gates leading to the city only records the fact that they were resorted to after remaining neglected for a long time since the Great Siege, what with the gargantuan effort to build the new city, Valletta, and two lines of bastions girding the Three Cities, first the Firenzuola fortifications then the magnificent Cottonera network.
Vittoriosa already had a rudimentary form of landside protective wall even before the arrival of the Order of St John in 1530. The expedition sent by the Order to reconnaissance and report on the status of the islands before the Order took possession of Malta stated in its survey that Birgu, with its arsenals, was the main seaport city and that it was meagerly defended. Among the first initiatives of Grand Master L’Isle Adam was to strengthen the defences of Birgu, which the Order had chosen as it headquarters.
However, it was in 1552 that a serious endeavour was made to construct new major fortifications around Vittoriosa and this after the 1551 violent assault on the city by Dragut. D’Homedes, who was Grand Master at the time, called commander Leo Strozzi to report on Malta’s defence situation. Following his report, the Grand Master appointed a commission comprising a representative from the four major langues, that of France, Italy, Germany and Spain. The present layout of the Vittoriosa defences can be ascribed to the recommendations of the D’Homedes commission.
The main gate of the city was hidden in a corner and could be accessed only through two other gates. For Malta, this was an innovative feature in military architecture. Indeed, the Ottoman attackers during the Great Siege shunned from attacking the main gate but concentrated their effort on the post of Castille from where they hoped to penetrate the city.
The D’Homedes commission also came up with a strong strategic plan for the Vittoriosa landside: this was to consist of two massive bastions joined by a curtain and each crowned by two lofty cavaliers. This layout can be clearly seen in the D’Aleccio paintings of the Great Siege, a layout which was repeated in the design of the Valletta defences.
It is therefore historically incorrect to attribute the present Vittoriosa defences to Mondion, as some commentators are doing. The same mistake is unfortunately again apparent on the descriptive tablet installed by the Vittoriosa local council and sponsored by Rotary Malta.
The date of 1722 is not the date when the Vittoriosa defences originated but when they were restored. Indeed, 1722 was the last time that major repair works were carried out, safe for the refurbishments done by the British forces in 1938 and the unavoidable post-war repairs.
The author is secretary of the Vittoriosa Historical and Cultural Society.