A tower on a cliff edge makes an easy argument for itself. It is high, it is solid, and its windows look straight out to sea. The Lascaris Towers, built in the seventeenth century, are small examples of that argument repeated along the Maltese coast.
Who built them and why
The Italian knight Giovanni Paolo Lascaris was elected Grand Master of the Order of St John on 16 June 1636. The towers built under him between 1637 and 1652 are known by his name. Unlike the earlier Wignacourt towers, which were personally funded by the Grand Master, the cost of the Lascaris towers was paid by the Università, the island’s civic authority.
Construction of the first tower, located near Għajn Tuffieħa Bay, began in 1637. Another six were built within the following year. Six of the seven original towers were coastal watchtowers, built on or near the sites of medieval watch posts. The only one inland, Nadur Tower at Binġemma Gap, was built to improve communication between the others and the fortified city of Mdina.
Decline and restoration
Most towers were decommissioned in the nineteenth century, though some saw use again in the Second World War. By the end of the twentieth century most of the nine surviving towers were in poor condition. St Agatha’s Tower and Lippija Tower were in a particularly bad state and in danger of collapsing. All the towers were restored between the late 1990s and 2013. Today Għajn Tuffieħa, St Agatha’s and Dwejra towers are open to the public.
St Agatha’s, the Red Tower
The most visited of the series is St Agatha’s Tower, built to protect Malta from the Turkish army. Its bricks are painted red, which is why it is also called the Red Tower. It is a square construction with four small corner towers used for watching the sea, and its exterior walls are about four metres thick.
To get in you climb a flight of stairs and cross a drawbridge that separates the stairs from the main door. At the foot of the tower is a small chapel of Saint Agatha, which gave the tower its name. It was built between 1647 and 1649 on the order of Grand Master Lascaris, and the military architect Antonio Garsin led the design.
It served as the main outpost of Malta’s western coast, with a garrison of about thirty people, and was capable of resisting a siege of up to forty days. In the eighteenth century the tower was strengthened with an additional cannon battery that was used under the British. In the twentieth century a radar station was set up there. After repairs from 1999 to 2001 the ruined upper towers were rebuilt, walls and roof repaired and repainted.
Today visitors can watch a documentary about its history, and a museum and a souvenir shop operate inside.
The Gozo tower at Dwejra
The Gozo tower belonging to the series stands near San Lawrenz, in the Dwejra area on the island’s west coast. It is among the three towers open to the public, and it shares the compact, thick-walled design of the others. Its setting among limestone cliffs gives it a wilder look than the Maltese towers.
Planning a visit
Choose a tower according to your route. For Malta’s north-west, Għajn Tuffieħa Tower pairs with a swim at Tuffieha Bay or Golden Bay. St Agatha’s makes a good stop on the ridge above Mellieħa, and Dwejra Tower fits a day on the Gozo coast.
Bring water, sun protection and shoes with grip, because stairs and ground around the towers can be uneven. Check opening arrangements before you go, since small sites often keep short hours.
What a tower is like to visit
Most of these towers are small, so a visit is short. You look at the thick walls, step into a narrow ground-floor room and climb to a roof platform where the sea fills the view. The effect is more of atmosphere than of exhibits, and the pleasure lies in understanding the position: each tower sits where it can see far out to sea and, ideally, the next tower along the coast.
Photographers will like the contrast between the pale stone and the sky, especially at the red-painted St Agatha’s. Wind is common on exposed headlands, so a light jacket helps even in summer.
