Beneath the chapel at Fort Manoel the partial outline of a dusty skeleton can be seen through a displaced slab in front of a stone altar bearing a familiar symbol.
The faded eight-pointed cross is the first thing that catches the eye as you walk down the flight of steps that lead into the underground crypt.
It is, however, unlikely that the skeleton dates as far back as the times of the Knights who built Fort Manoel in the 1700s to protect Valletta’s north-facing bastions.
Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna chair-man Mario Farrugia said all the bones found during restoration works at the fort were unidentified.
“We think they belong to victims from successive plagues from the time when the fort was used as an extension of the nearby Isolation Hospital,” he said.
The foundation was roped in by restorers, on the Malta Environment and Planning Authority’s recommendation, to help monitor heritage finds at Fort Manoel when the works started in August 2001.
As restorers sieved through the ruins they unearthed several heritage treasures including a headless statue of Our Lady, other weathered statues, and smoking pipes.
“All material finds made were of great importance as they provide added data about the people who lived in the fort over different periods and the way they lived. At times you also find individual artefacts that shed more light on a given use or dimension of what went on in the fort,” Mr Farrugia said.
One find of particular interest, he said, was the intact barrack latrine from the time of the Knights, called gabinetto.
Mr Farrugia said this was a small pottery water cistern set into a barrack room wall.
“It provided a practical way of keeping fresh water stored for drinking. It could be replenished when empty. Water could be had at will via a small tap at its base,” he said.
Fort Manoel’s first stone was laid in 1723, under the patronage of Portuguese Grand Master Manoel de Vilhena with the supervision of world famous engineer François de Mondion.
Although the fort’s defining characteristics survived the ravages of time, it suffered at vandals’ hands, and changes were effected to meet the exigencies of military strategies. It also endured numerous attacks during the Second World War.
In 2000, the Midi Consortium was granted lease of the land at Tigné Point and Manoel Island, and part of the agreement was to restore Fort Manoel.
Midi chief executive Ben Muscat said restoration works managed by the AOM Partnership (a group of architects from Architecture Project and TBA Periti) ensured objects of heritage value were respected.
Architects ensured methods used during restoration were faithful to the trades used during the fort’s original construction.
Now that the restoration is three- quarters complete, restorers will enter the final phase – focusing on the bastions and the ditch surrounding the fort.
“The challenge now is to ensure the use of the restored fort is commercially viable but also sensitive to the heritage aspects, and to allow parts of the fort to be enjoyed by the public,” Mr Muscat said.