Fort St Michael was a fortification on the island of Malta.
A fort of that name was built by the Knights of Malta between 1551 and 1565 on the peninsula then known as Isla St Michael formed by Dockyard Creek and French Creek in Grand Harbour.
This area is still known as L-Isla, but is now occupied by the fortified city of Senglea.
The original fort on this site was begun in 1551, initially under the patronage of Grand Master Juan de Homedes y Coscon, to a design by the Military engineer Pedro Pardo d’Andrera, and extended to a fortified city by Grand Master Claude de la Sengle during the Knights' preparations for the Siege of Malta.
The fort's design in very similar to that of Fort St. Elmo on the Sciberras Peninsula, with the exception of a bastioned front and a ravelin.
Fort St Michael was one of three forts defending the Knights stronghold in Grand Harbour during the siege, along with Fort St Elmo and Fort St Angelo. Fort St Elmo fell, but Fort St Michael withstood the siege, though massively damaged, the scene of some of the most desperate fighting of the siege. It withstood 10 assaults from the Ottoman Turkish attackers.
The rebuilding and development of the fortified city of Senglea after the siege continuing until 1581.The name Fort St Michael became associated with the landward bastion of Senglea, also known as the St Michael Battery, or the St. Michael's cavalier. This was largely dismantled during extensions to the dockyard area at the end of the 19th century and construction of a new primary school in the 1920s. The remainder was badly damaged by aerial bombing during the second world war. After the war the ruins were dismantled and the site made into a public garden.
The impressive seaward bastions of Senglea remain however, heir to Fort St Michael's original site and purpose, as does the Senglea Main Gate, which has recently been restored, after the post war reconstruction collapsed in the late 1960s due to heavy rainfall.
Coordinates: 35°53′04″N 14°31′08″E / 35.8844°N 14.5189°E / 35.8844; 14.5189
Famous quotes containing the words fort, saint and/or michael:
“The newspapers are the ruling power. Any other government is reduced to a few marines at Fort Independence. If a man neglects to read the Daily Times, government will go down on its knees to him, for this is the only treason these days.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“You, mistress,
That have the office opposite to Saint Peter,
And keeps the gate of hell!”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Being a parent is a form of leadership. . . . Parents make a mistake, along with leaders of organizations, when they are unwilling to recognize the power inherent in the positions they occupy and when they are unwilling to use this power. . . . I do not mean a figure who is irrational, autocratic, or sadistic. I mean leaders who have the strength of character to stand up for what they believe.”
—Abraham Zaleznik. In Support of Families, ed. Michael W. Yogman and T. Berry Brazelton, ch. 8 (1986)