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Lippija tower





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The Fougasse

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Fougasse near Madliena Tower One of the most interesting means of coastal defence created by the knights around the potential landing spots of the Maltese Islands was the fougasse, a rock-hewn mortar which was designed to fire a large number of different sized stones onto approaching enemy ships. Although it is not a Maltese invention, the local version was a unique adaptation of the fougasse, both in its method of construction as well as its unorthodox application as a means of coastal defence . In the first decades of the 1700s, when the Order was strongly influenced by French engineers, a coastal defence scheme started to be implemented which included, the fougasse. In 1715 the council ordered 60 stone mortars to be cut at vulnerable points around the coasts of the island. no action appears to have been taken until 1741, under the direction of Marandon, that these weapons started being formed. Marandon fired his first experimental foggazza a selci on 28 September 1740. Dr. Stephen S...
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Floriana Heritage Trail

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Borgo Vilhena as Floriana was originally known is many times considered a suburb of Valletta. Possibly owing to this it is significantly under appreciated and many times seen as little more than a thoroughfare through which one travels to get to one's ultimate destination. Nevertheless, Floriana is a gem in its own right as hopefully this trail will show.  Floriana's name came from that of Pietro Paola Floriani, an Italian military engineer who was commissioned to design the Floriana Lines after in 1632, Grand Master Antoine de Paule received credible information that the Ottomans were preparing themselves for another attack on Malta. Floriani's design resulted in a massive system of multi tiered fortifications which are still largely visible, if not completely accessible. Although there were many objections to his project, mainly based on the expense and huge garrison required to defend it, Floriani defended the project by confirming that it could shelter the entire popula...
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Glossary of Architectural features

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  Arzella or Scalloped Doorway British period townhouses in Malta usually have a design referred to as stylised arzella or scallop doorway. Typical townhouse doors are less elaborate, however some examples featured a scallop shell design still exist. This served as decoration of a functional entrance which served to hide the meeting of the thickness of the double skinned wall with the doorway which was necessarily much narrower. This example is found in Ħal Luqa . Corbelled Walls   When going around the local countryside and in certain rural areas, one can see rubble walls surmounted by a projecting corbel, above which the wall continues. The scope of this wall was to stop the climbing of he wall from the street into the garden. Although originally this was aimed at stopping rodents from getting into gardens, the deterrent proved effective on humans too, such that in Sicily this is feature is called "para lupi" or wolf shield/stopper. Since such gardens usually contained cit...
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