Stephen Spiteri will give a public lecture entitled Some Unrealised 18th-Century Hospitaller Fortification Projects in Mdina on Wednesday at 6pm at Mdina local council’s main hall.

The talk explores various proposals put forward for Mdina’s fortification in the early decades of the 18th century, as the Knights of St John sought to drag the old medieval fortress into the gunpowder age.

Plans from this period, attributed to resident French military engineer Charles François de Mondion, provide a rare insight into the various schemes that had been explored by the order’s military planners but which were subsequently discarded either because alternative solutions were adopted or due to lack of sufficient resources.

The lecture is organised by the University’s International Institute for Baroque Studies.

For further information call 2340 2772 or e-mail andre.debattista@um.edu.mt.

www.um.edu.mt/iibs