Saint Agatha's Tower - Red Tower ~ Mellieha Malta 🇲🇹

Hi all 👋🏻

With my next post into the Architecture+Design Community I want to show you the Saint Agatha's Tower / Red Tower ~ Torri ta' Sant'Agata / It-Torri L-Aħmar in Mellieha.

Located in the street/ Triq Tad-Dahar, Il-Mellieħa, Malta 🇲🇹
On Google maps see the yellow star ⭐️:

The islands of Malta look like this:

Some already know I lived there for a year. So I explored most of the islands 😉
Photos are taken with my iPhone on 14 June 2020.
We went there just after they finished a new paint layer on the walls… it took a long time, but it was worth it waiting to see it freshly painted.

More information about the tower you find In this website!

It states:
”Saint Agatha's Tower, also known as the Red Tower, Mellieħa Tower or Fort Saint Agatha, is a large bastioned watchtower in Mellieħa, Malta.
It was built between 1647 and 1649, as the sixth of the Lascaris towers. The tower's design is completely different from the rest of the Lascaris towers, but it is similar to the earlier Wignacourt towers. St. Agatha's Tower was the last large bastioned tower to be built in Malta.

The design is by the architect Antonio Garsin. The structure consists of a square tower with four corner towers.
Cannon ports in the turrets gave interlocking fields of fire commanding the base of the walls and the gateway, with other large cannon ports in the faces of the main tower. The outer walls are approximately four metres thick at the base and the interior of the tower is enclosed by a barrel vaulted roof. The corner turrets are surmounted by very characteristic fish tail crenelations. A chapel was located within the tower.

Like many of the Knights' early defensive structures, St. Agatha's Tower was strengthened during the early 18th century. A low profile rubble wall entrenchment was built around the flanks of the tower in the form of a redan trace. Due to this, the tower also functioned as a redoubt, similar to the one at Żabbar during the French blockade.

It continued to have a military function throughout the British period, and was manned during both World Wars. From the British period it continued its military function being used as a radar station by the Armed Forces of Malta.

By the close of the 20th century St. Agatha's Tower was in poor repair, with one turret completely missing and another turret severely damaged. The tower was gradually restored by Din l-Art Ħelwa, starting in 1999 and completed in 2001, assisted by substantial industrial sponsorship. As part of the restoration work, the damaged turrets were replaced, the walls and roof were rebuilt, eroded stone facing was replaced, interior walls were scraped and painted, the original floor was uncovered, and the interior staircase to the roof was rebuilt. Due to the extreme unevenness of the floor, this was recently covered by a wooden surface with glass apertures through which one can view the original slabs. The tower is still in the care of Din l-Art Ħelwa and is open to the public.”

Let me show you the beautiful Tower now.

View from afar from the parking lot.

With the rubble wall entrenchment before it.

Walking around it we see the corners.

Having these views around us.

Another corner tower.

You see here why it was build right here… as a watch tower. The over view it has is vast.

The tower again.

View towards Mellieha beach 🏖 this one is very crowded in the summer and you do not get a spot when you arrive late. Not my kind of thing 😉 so I avoid hahaha

The other side. We see here the entrance bridge.

Walking passed and looking back.

It wasn’t open this day, but we could freely walk around the entire tower. Here you see some details and the designs of the tower and walls.

View towards the other side… the land is barren as the summers are very hot. Not much trees are left on this island.

Looking towards the tower again.

And the Mellieha beach with the Għadira Nature Reserve in front of it. It is “the” area where birds will nest in Malta. The waters you see with little sand islands.

Another view from afar towards the tower. I love the red colour and the blues of the sky… it makes it really pop!

And with this last photograph, I want to show you another photo from the faded in colour building, while it still was in scaffolding before they finished. This was 6 October 2019.
So they took about 9 months to finish the works. It is a constant upkeep to keep this colour fresh and bright. Due to the hot sun, with no protection, it fades very quickly and becomes a pale pink over time.

Until next time!

Hope you enjoyed my photos of this RED TOWER in MALTA. 🇲🇹
Thank you for looking and reading 😊 🙏🏻 If you ever are on the island of Malta, do go to this Castle and view it for yourself.
Any questions or comments, let me know. Always happy to help.

Have a great Sunday all 😎
Grtz Jackie

The divider is Created by SilverFish / @ mondoshawan

Unless stated otherwise: All art and photos used in my posts are taken, created and owned by me. If you wish to use any of my photographs, please contact me first. As I have used some commercially myself. We don’t want that you or somebody else gets into trouble 😉 So please don’t use them without my consent.