Birgu

This week we have the last two field trips related to our history course at the University of Malta. Today we visited two sites, separated very little by distance, but separated more than three centuries in time.

Our first stop was Birgu. This was a tiny village in the Grand Harbor area of Malta when the Knights of the Order of St. John arrived in 1530. At that time the only urban area on the island was at Mdina.

16th century fortifications a Birgu

Mdina was a natural fortress, but much too far from the harbor for the Knights. Since the end of the Crusades, the Knights had evolved into "corsairs" -- basically legalized pirates, authorized by the Pope to harass shipping of the Muslim Ottoman Empire.

So the Knights expanded Birgu and quickly fortified it with a high limestone wall to make it a defensive position overlooking the harbor.

View across the Harbor to Valletta

It was a good thing they did, because in 1565 an Ottoman armada showed up to lay siege to Malta in an attempt to wipe out the menacing Knights once and for all, and to open the door for an invasion of Sicily, Naples, and eventually, Rome.

In "The Great Siege of Malta" about 7,000 defenders managed to hold off more than 25,000 attackers here. Casualties on both sides were enormous, and Birgu was nearly leveled, but the Knights prevailed.

The residence of the Executioner (right across the street from the office of the Inquisition). Note the axes carved into the stone above the window!

After the Siege they rebuilt Birgu, and began work on Valletta as an even larger and better fortress. The expectation was that the Ottomans would be back soon to try again. But that attack never came. The Knights remained until Napoleon came along in 1798.

Fort Rinella is located less than a kilometer from Birgu, at the mouth of the Grand Harbor, overlooking the sea. But the two fortresses couldn't be more different.

Battle monument in the town square, Birgu

The British began construction of Rinella in 1878. The fort does not have high walls, but is instead dug into the ground. Rinella is small, because it was built only for a single canon: The 100-ton Armstrong, the largest muzzle-loading canon ever built.

With its steam-powered hydraulic loading mechanism, the Armstrong canon could be loaded and fired by a crew of only a half-dozen men. Another fort with an Armstrong canon was positioned on the opposite side of the Harbor, on the Sliema peninsula, not far from where we are staying. But that one was demolish after World War II.

The Armstrong 100-ton gun and guide.

The Armstrong canons were the doomsday weapons of their time. The British installed only four of them -- two here in Malta, and two at Gibraltar. With these four guns, strategists believed that Britain could control the entire Mediterranean. But their time did not last long. They were made obsolete by breech-loading canons. The Armstrongs were retired by 1904, never having fired a shot in anger.