|
The Knights Hospitallers of the Order of St John of Jerusalem only grudgingly came to Malta in 1530 when they were given the Island as their new home after the loss of Rhodes to the Ottomans. Little did they realise they would henceforth be known more as the Knights of Malta. Rhodes’ loss was Malta’s gain as the Knights embarked on numerous infrastructural and military projects to turn it into an island fortress that would serve, as it historically did, as a mighty bastion against any threat to Christian Europe.
The Knights changed the face of Malta and gave her a unique and illustrious chapter to add to her history. This chapter is written in the blood of the knights and the Maltese who fell in the many sea and land skirmishes with the Turks and, particularly, during the Great Siege of 1565. To be able to sustain such a military stance, the knights needed to have a well-stocked, professionally-run, state-of-the-art armoury.
After the building of the new Capital of Valletta, the armoury was eventually moved from Vittoriosa, where the knights hitherto had their headquarters, to the Magisterial Palace (today the Presidential Palace) in 1763 and there it has remained since. At the time, the Order’s Armoury had weapons for 25,000 men, but most of these arms were old and obsolete. During the Napoleonic occupation (1798-1800), a considerable amount of these arms were taken by the French troops.
In 1900, during British rule, Sir Francis Laking, the King's Armourer, re-arranged and catalogued the arms - 5721 pieces in all. The Armoury occupied a large hall at the rear side of the Palace until 1976 when the hall was taken over for use by the Maltese Parliament. The Armoury was then taken to its present venue on the groundfloor. Nearly all the items on display are authentic pieces from the early years of the Order in Malta i.e. the period before and after the Siege.
Among the numerous exhibits, there are genuine, some of them heavily decorated, suits of armour, pole arms such as pikes, halberds, forks and partisans, bows and arrows, powder flasks, swords, firearms and various types of ordinance. One of the guns is a rare 18th century type with its muzzle reinforced with hide and tarred rope. There are also several iron and stone cannon balls, possibly relics of the Great Siege. All in all, a fascinating way to spend a morning.
For more info visit www.heritagemalta.org/palacearmoury.html
|
