Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/126701
Title: Lower Fort St Elmo and the mortar shells fountain
Authors: Darmanin, Denis Anthony
Keywords: Fort Saint Elmo (Valletta, Malta)
Siege, 1565
Malta -- History -- Knights of Malta, 1530-1798
Turkey -- History -- Ottoman Empire, 1288-1918
Fountains -- Malta -- History
Issue Date: 2012
Publisher: Din l-Art Ħelwa
Citation: Darmanin, D. A. (2012). Lower Fort St Elmo and The Mortar Shells Fountain. Vigilo, April, 34-37.
Abstract: The loss of Fort St Elmo during the Great Siege of 1565 taught the Order of St John an impo1tant lesson regarding the "Sheb-el-Ras" Peninsula. Whoever commanded the heights of this promontory could easily position numerous gun batteries and direct their fire onto most strongholds and fortifications within Grand Harbour. St Elmo also proved to be a costly and tragic error for the Order, located as it was on low ground at the tip of the peninsula, while the Ottoman gunners had the greater advantage of being on high ground and could thus rain salvo after salvo down on the fort until it crumbled and fell. In the aftermath of the siege, Grand Master Jean Parisot de Valette reconsidered the earlier plans presented by Antonio Ferramolino in 1541, by Bartolomeo Genga in 1558 and by Bartolomeo Lanci in 1562, for the building of an entirely new fortified city on the peninsula.
URI: https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/126701
Appears in Collections:Melitensia Works - ERCWHMlt

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