Fort St Elmo

Fort St Elmo stands at the tip of the Sciberras Peninsula on Triq il-Mediterran in Valletta, Malta, where it commands the entrances to the Grand Harbour and Marsamxett Harbour. A small fort was first built here in 1488, and the Order of St John enlarged it in 1552. During the Great Siege of 1565, Ottoman forces attacked it for around a month from late May and eventually captured it on 23 June, at heavy cost to both sides. The delay allowed the Knights at Birgu and Senglea to prepare their defences, and the siege was lifted in September. After the siege, the fort was rebuilt as part of the new city of Valletta, with a star-shaped bastioned plan designed by Francesco Laparelli and later improved by Girolamo Cassar and others. In the British period it was used as a military garrison, and in the Second World War it was bombed repeatedly and hit by the Italian explosive motor boats attack of July 1941. The fort was also used as a film location and as the home of the Malta Police Academy. Restoration led by the Fortifications Renovation Programme and Heritage Malta in the 2010s repaired the bastions, cavalier, chapel and parade ground. Today the fort houses the National War Museum, which presents Malta's military history in chronological order from prehistory to the Second World War, including the George Cross awarded to Malta in 1942, the Gladiator fighter aircraft nicknamed Faith, and the Willys Jeep used by General Eisenhower in 1943. The surviving architecture includes ramparts, the Chapel of St Anne, the cavalier, the parade ground and the rock-cut ditch. Reenactments of the changing of the guard are held on some Sundays. The site gives clear views over the harbours and across to Fort Ricasoli, and is open for self-guided visits.