Restoration and Rehabilitation of the Historic Fortifications of Malta and Gozo
Malta’s military and
defence architecture heritage forms a central asset in the Island’s astonishing
wealth of physical remains from its past - buildings and sites which stand
monument to a unique historical experience spanning thousands of years. Undeniably
Malta’s strategic location in the centre of the Mediterranean, coupled with its
excellent natural harbours, translated into a leading role in the military
struggle for the region; a historical process which was invariably accompanied
by an incessant investment in the fortification of the island. For many
historians, this legacy of forts, fortresses, citadels, towers, batteries,
redoubts, entrenchments and concrete pillboxes represents one of the finest
collections of military architecture to be found anywhere in the world and
constitutes, in the words of the late Professor Quentin Hughes, a monumental
heritage ‘for sheer concentration and majesty quite unmatched’.
Much of this
architectural heritage, however, was to be found in a poor state of
preservation, or lied misused and largely underutilized. The vast potential
inherent in these fortified structures was largely untapped, with most of the
fortifications having been relegated to secondary roles as containers of
unsympathetic activities or else simply left abandoned. As a matter of fact,
the overall picture that these fortifications had presented had been one of a
general underutilization, perhaps even one of decay and deterioration of the
architectural fabric, reflecting a difficulty to come to terms with the
potential and great problems that the conservation and use of such a vast scale
and extent of this unique mass of buildings posed to our society and country as
a whole. Aware of the uniqueness of this architectural heritage, and the scale
and magnitude of the effort necessary to redress this long standing
predicament, the Maltese Government, in 2004, sought to benefit from any
assistance offered by the European Union through its various programmes to
partly fund the necessary intervention on some of its most important historic
fortifications.
Aside from these unique
attributes, the imposing architecture, sculptural qualities, vast internal
spaces and rich typological diversity of the Maltese fortifications make them
also an important economic and cultural resource. Especially in tourism, the
fortifications offer a unique attraction that makes them a potential crucial
element in the tourism package that Malta has to offer. No other island
in the Mediterranean basin has such a huge and varied concentration of
fortifications on offer.