St. Paul's Bay Tower

The St Paul 's Bay Tower, also called Wignacourt Tower, is a fortress built during the reign of the Knights of Malta in 1609. The tower stands on the south bank of the St Paul 's Bay. He belongs to a series of six fortifications that were built during the reign of Grand Master de Alof Wignacourt 1609 to 1620 and are known as Wignacourt Towers. He was inducted into the National Inventory of Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands.

Prehistory

Located in the northern part of the island of Malta, St. Paul's Bay was used by Ottoman troops already in 1551 and 1565 as a landing place. Also went here again corsair on land, the villages attacked on the island and the people abducted into slavery. Although these raids were in themselves not for matters within the scope of the Grand Harbour facilities of the Order, but this could cause considerable damage and disrupt the supply of the island sensitive. The deportation of the indigenous population of the island into slavery would eventually undo the island uninhabitable and thus endanger the position of the Hospitallers in total. Despite its importance, the bay for a long time had remained unpaved. It was only in 1609 enabled the construction of a fortification at this point the resources of the Order.

Building and construction

The design of the tower is the Maltese architect Vittorio Cassar attributed. Construction began in 1609 and was completed in the following year. The costs amounted to 6,748 scudi.

The tower has a square plan and has two floors. The tower has four corner towers. The corner towers are designed as pseudo bastions. However, the edges of these bastions were very narrow. And the base of the curtain in line with the lay of the towers. This reduced the effectiveness of the flanking fire. Two of the four corner towers surmounted the tower and served as a weather protection for observation post. It was originally fitted weir bay. On both floors there is ever a vaulted with a barrel vault storage or Untekunftsraum. It was reached by a stone staircase and a drawbridge to the first floor. Both the windowless basement as well as the flat roof were accessed via stairs inside the tower. The main armament was placed behind the parapet on the roof.

British colonial rule

At the beginning of British colonial rule, the tower was initially used further. Plans in 1813 to expand were never carried out. 1828 the demolition of all created by the Knights towers, redoubts and batteries was proposed in 1832 and also features, but the St Paul 's Bay Tower remained. He was handed over as the other disused towers to the local authorities.