Fort St Angelo

No other fortress has been engaged with the same intensity in the shaping of Malta’s destiny as Fort St Angelo. Nowadays, it stands as the boldest memorial of the strategic importance of the islands and of the innumerable lives sacrificed for their dominion. Strategically located on a hillock, at the end of the Birgu peninsula, the fort dominates the Grand Harbour . By 1274, the stronghold, previously known as Castrum Maris (castle-by-the-sea), consisted of two enclosures. The Sicilian overlords considered this fort as a guarantee of their interests in the Maltese Islands, and it was administered by loyal subjects under the title of Castellan. After 1530, the Order of St John christened this military structure as Fort St Angelo and turned it into their headquarters. The Knights remodelled the building extensively with the construction of a series of artillery platforms which marked the introduction of the bastioned system of defence into the Maltese Islands. The rejuvenated sentinel of