Nadur Tower
Nadur Tower is a small watchtower in Binġemma Gap, limits of Rabat, Malta. It was completed in 1637 as the third of the Lascaris towers. Today, the tower is in good condition. Nadur Tower was built in 1637 at Binġemma Gap, close to where the British built the Victoria Lines. Unlike the other Lascaris towers, it is located far away from the coast; this is because it was built to serve as a'relay' station between the newly constructed Lippija and Għajn Tuffieħa Towers and the walled city of Mdina. The tower has views of the western part of the island of Malta; the tower is smaller. It has a square base with two rooms. Access to the roof was by a wooden ladder, which has now been replaced by iron rungs stapled into the wall. Today, Nadur Tower is in good condition. In September 2008, it was damaged when vandals threw burnt oil on one of its sides, but it was restored after a couple of days. National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands
Fort San Lucian
Fort San Lucian known as Saint Lucian Tower or Fort Rohan, is a large bastioned watchtower and polygonal fort in Marsaxlokk, Malta. The original tower was built by the Order of Saint John between 1610 and 1611, being the second of six Wignacourt towers. An artillery battery was added in around 1715, the complex was upgraded into a fort in the 1790s. In the 1870s, the fort was rebuilt by the British in the polygonal style. Saint Lucian Tower is the second largest watchtower in Malta, after Saint Thomas Tower. Today, the fort are used by the Malta Aquaculture Research Centre. Saint Lucian Tower was built above the shore of Marsaxlokk Bay on the headland between Marsaxlokk and Birżebbuġa. According to local legends, a woman is said to have had a dream in which St. John advised her to tell the Grand Master to fortify the area around Marsaxlokk since an Ottoman attack was imminent; the woman told the parish priest, who told the bishop who in turn told Grand Master Alof de Wignacourt. The Grand Master did not give any importance to this, but that summer an attack happened.
Therefore, Wignacourt ordered the construction of St Lucian Tower, built between 1610 and 1611. The cost of construction was 2 tari and 6 scudi; the tower was named after a church in France. The tower's design is similar to the Wignacourt Tower in St. Paul's Bay, but on a larger scale. A flight of steps led to the tower, but this was demolished by the British. There are claims that it was designed by Vittorio Cassar, but these are disputed since Cassar was dead when work on the tower began. Saint Lucian Tower first saw action in July 1614, when it fired its guns on an Ottoman fleet attempting to disembark at Marsaxlokk Bay; the Ottomans left and landed in St. Thomas Bay, pillaged some towns and farmland before being forced to retreat by the militia; this event is known as the raid of Żejtun. The tower was armed with 6 cannons, as well as ammunition and other armaments. A small chapel was located within its walls, it had a titular painting depicting the Martyrdom of St Lucian; the painting was relocated to the parish church of Tarxien in 1799.
After the De Redin towers were constructed, St Lucian had Delimara Tower and Bengħisa Tower in its line of sight, but both of these have since been demolished. A semi-circular battery with an arrow-shaped blockhouse was added to the tower in 1715. Between 1792 and 1795, the tower and battery were surrounded by a ditch and enclosed within an entrenchment-like enclosure; this was designed by the engineer Antoine Étienne de Tousard, the complex was renamed Fort Rohan after the reigning Grandmaster, Emmanuel de Rohan-Polduc. During the French invasion of Malta in 1798, Fort Rohan commanded by the knight Laguérivière, was one of the few forts that offered strong resistance to the invading forces. After the Order left Malta, the name "Fort Rohan" fell into disuse and the tower began to be referred to as "St Lucian Tower" or "Fort St Lucian" once again. During the French blockade of 1798-1800, Fort Rohan was chosen by the British as a supply base and an evacuation point in the case of the arrival of a French relief force.
The plan was that as soon as French reinforcements were to arrive, British soldiers of the 30th and 89th Regiments of Foot would gather at San Rocco Battery, they would retreat to Żabbar under the cover of San Rocco Redoubt. From there, they were to go to Żejtun, to Fort Rohan, from where they would embark on their ships in Marsaxlokk Harbour and evacuate the island. For this purpose, Saint Lucian Entrenchment was built stretching from near Ferretti Battery to Vendôme Redoubt cutting off the tower's peninsula from the rest of the island; the entrenchment was built in 1799 by the British military with the assistance of the Maltese engineer Matteo Bonavia. A diamond shaped redoubt, known as Saint Lucian Redoubt, was built some distance ahead of the entrenchment, to provide cover for retreating forces. Both the redoubt and the entrenchment were demolished after the blockade, no traces of them can be seen today; when Malta fell under British rule permanently, they extended the fort and the original tower now forms the core of a Victorian era fortress.
Between 1872 and 1878, the battery and the flight of steps leading to the tower were dismantled, a new polygonal fort was built instead, with the entire installation being renamed Fort Saint Lucian. The fort has caponiers, a sunken gate, a curved entrance ramp. On the seaward side the tower has been extended to form a low battery, with three large casemates facing out across Marsaxlokk Bay towards Fort Delimara; the fort was equipped with RML 10 inch 18 ton guns. St Lucian formed part of a ring of Victorian fortresses that protected Marsaxlokk Bay which included Fort Delimara, Fort Tas-Silġ and Fort Benghisa; the fort was decommissioned in 1885, but was used as a Royal Air Force bomb depot between World War II and the 1960s. Nuclear weapons were possibly stored at San Lucian during the Cold War. At some points, the fort was used as a military prison, it was handed to the Government of Malta upon independence in 1964. The tower was included on the Antiquities List of 1925. After the fort was handed to the government, it was administered by the University of Malta by the Architecture Department and as a Marine Biology Station.
In 1988, it was given to the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries to accommodate National Aquaculture Centre, now known as the Malta Aquaculture Research Centre. It remains in the hands of the aquaculture centre to this day, althou
Żonqor Tower
Żonqor Tower known as Torre di Zoncol, was a small watchtower near Żonqor Point, limits of Marsaskala, Malta. It was built in 1659 as the eleventh of the De Redin towers, on or near the site of a medieval watch post; the tower commanded the entrance to Marsaskala Bay along with Saint Thomas Tower. It was demolished by the British military in 1915 to clear the line of fire of modern fortifications. A World War II-era pillbox now stands on the site of Żonqor Tower
Jerma Palace Hotel
The Jerma Palace Hotel is a former four-star hotel in Marsaskala, Malta. It was opened in 1982, was managed by Corinthia Hotels International, it was the largest hotel in southern Malta until it closed down in 2007. The building was subsequently abandoned, it has since fallen into a state of disrepair. Plans to demolish the former hotel began in 2016; the Jerma Palace Hotel was built on a headland called il-Ħamrija, close to the 17th-century Saint Thomas Tower. The land belonged to Franciscan Conventuals and Ivan Burridge, who sold it to San Tumas Holdings. In 1976, San Tumas sold the plot to the Libyan Foreign Investment Company; the Jerma Palace Hotel was subsequently built, it was opened in 1982. The hotel was managed by Corinthia Hotels International through a management agreement. Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi had a presidential suite within the hotel; the Jerma Palace was the largest hotel in the south of Malta, its opening contributed to transforming Marsaskala from a traditional fishing village to a small resort.
The hotel closed down in March 2007, in July 2008 it was sold to the contractors Jeffrey and Peter Montebello for €18.6 million. In 2009, the Tumas and Gasan groups sought to transform the hotel into a "Portomaso of the south" but nothing materialized; the Montebello brothers planned to transform the former hotel into apartments, a 5-star hotel and a yacht marina. The former hotel is now in a derelict state, with parts of it having collapsed and others being in danger of collapsing, its interior has been stripped of everything of value, with carpets, marble floors, doors and bricks being stolen. The walls are covered in graffiti; the building is occupied by squatters, it is popular with drug addicts. The former hotel became an illegal dumping ground, with people disposing of their garbage there. Rubbish left at the hotel caused a number of fires within the building. In July 2015 the Marsaskala local council wrote to the Planning Authority that “the council is opposed to any application which includes the development of apartments”.
In December 2015, it was claimed that Libyan people smugglers were using the Jerma Palace Hotel as a drop off point for Syrian refugees to illegally enter Malta. In 2016, plans were made for redevelopment of the site; the plans had included two residential towers, one of 44 and another of 32 storeys, together with a 22-storey hotel on reclaimed land in the vicinity. Following a request by the Marsaskala Local Council and the issue of an enforcement notice, on 20 August 2016 the Planning Authority ordered the hotel's owners to demolish the building. On that same day, the building caught fire; the site of the hotel, valued at €20.8 million, is to be sold at a judicial auction in October 2016. The demolition of the dilapidated hotel buildings is to cost around €1.5 million. In September 2016 the owners appealed against an Enforcement Order by the Planning Authority. In December 2017 the Marsaskala local council, including Labour Mayor Mario Calleja, voted overwhelmingly in favour of a new project by developer Charles Camilleri which includes a 13-storey hotel as well as an apartment complex, in contradiction with the same council's July 2015 position.
The development foresees a 7,000 square metre footprint with a floor area of 61,000 square metres, as well as a 10,500 square metre public park around St Thomas tower. The proposal has not been submitted to planning process yet, so there is no environmental impact assessment. Media related to Jerma Palace Hotel at Wikimedia Commons
Lascaris towers
The Lascaris Towers are a series of small coastal watchtowers built in Malta by the Order of Saint John between 1637 and 1652. The first seven towers were built around the coast of mainland Malta between 1637 and 1638. Between 1647 and 1652, a large tower was built on mainland Malta, two smaller ones were built on Gozo; the Italian knight Giovanni Paolo Lascaris was elected Grand Master of the Order of St. John on 16 June 1636. Unlike the earlier Wignacourt towers which were funded by the Grand Master, the cost of the Lascaris towers was paid by the Università. Construction of the first tower, located at ta' Lippija near Ġnejna, began in 1637. Another six towers 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 Lascaris tower, located inland is the Nadur Tower at Binġemma Gap, built to facilitate communication between the other towers and the fortified city of Mdina. Another tower, Saint Agatha's Tower, was built between 1647 and 1649.
Unlike the original towers, this was a large bastioned structure similar to the earlier Wignacourt towers. The last two towers to be built in Lascaris' reign were the ones at Dwejra; these were built in 1650 and 1652 and the cost of construction was paid by the Università of Gozo. In 1658 and 1659, Lascaris' successor, Martin de Redin, built another 13 watchtowers around Malta's coastline, which became known as the De Redin towers; the design of the new towers were based on Sciuta Tower. Due to their similarity in design, sometimes the Lascaris and De Redin towers are collectively known as "De Redin towers". In around 1715, as part of a programme to improve Malta's coastal defences, Qawra Tower was upgraded into a coastal battery. A gun platform was built around the seaward face of the tower. At this point, a redan trace entrenchment was built near Saint Agatha's Tower. Blat Mogħża Tower collapsed in around 1730; the tower was never rebuilt, no traces of it can be seen today. In the 1760s, entrenchments were built near Qawra Tower.
Most of the towers were decommissioned in the 19th century, but some saw use again in World War II. By the end of the 20th century, most of the nine surviving towers were in a rather dilapidated state. St. Agatha's Tower and Lippija Tower were in a bad state, were in danger of collapsing. St. George's Tower, Dwejra Tower, St. Agatha's Tower, Għajn Tuffieħa Tower and Lippija Tower were all restored between the late 1990s and 2013. Xlendi Tower is being restored, while plans are being made for the restoration of Sciuta Tower. Today, St. Agatha's and Dwejra Towers are open to the public. St. George's Tower is within the grounds of a hotel, Qawra Tower is open as a restaurant. Lascaris Battery Lascaris War Rooms
Restaurant
A restaurant, or an eatery, is a business which prepares and serves food and drinks to customers in exchange for money. Meals are served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants offer take-out and food delivery services, some offer only take-out and delivery. Restaurants vary in appearance and offerings, including a wide variety of cuisines and service models ranging from inexpensive fast food restaurants and cafeterias to mid-priced family restaurants, to high-priced luxury establishments. In Western countries, most mid- to high-range restaurants serve alcoholic beverages such as beer and wine; some restaurants serve all the major meals, such as breakfast and dinner. Other restaurants may only serve a single meal or they may serve two meals; the word derives from the French verb "restaurer" and, being the present participle of the verb, it means "that which restores". The term restaurant was defined in 1507 as a "restorative beverage", in correspondence in 1521 to mean "that which restores the strength, a fortifying food or remedy".
The first use of the word to refer to a public venue where one can order food is believed to be in the 18th century. In 1765, a French chef by the name of A. Boulanger established a business selling soups and other "restaurants". Additionally, while not the first establishment where one could order food, or soups, it is thought to be the first to offer a menu of available choices The "first real restaurant" is considered to have been "La Grande Taverne de Londres" in Paris, founded by Antoine Beauviliers in either 1782 or 1786. According to Brillat-Savarin, this was "the first to combine the four essentials of an elegant room, smart waiters, a choice cellar, superior cooking". In 1802 the term was applied to an establishment where restorative foods, such as bouillon, a meat broth, were served. Restaurants are distinguished in many different ways; the primary factors are the food itself. Beyond this, restaurants may differentiate themselves on factors including speed, location, service, or novelty themes.
Restaurants range from inexpensive and informal lunching or dining places catering to people working nearby, with modest food served in simple settings at low prices, to expensive establishments serving refined food and fine wines in a formal setting. In the former case, customers wear casual clothing. In the latter case, depending on culture and local traditions, customers might wear semi-casual, semi-formal or formal wear. At mid- to high-priced restaurants, customers sit at tables, their orders are taken by a waiter, who brings the food when it is ready. After eating, the customers pay the bill. In some restaurants, such as workplace cafeterias, there are no waiters. Another restaurant approach which uses few waiters is the buffet restaurant. Customers serve food onto their own plates and pay at the end of the meal. Buffet restaurants still have waiters to serve drinks and alcoholic beverages. Fast food restaurants are considered a restaurant; the travelling public has long been catered for with ship's messes and railway restaurant cars which are, in effect, travelling restaurants.
Many railways, the world over cater for the needs of travellers by providing railway refreshment rooms, a form of restaurant, at railway stations. In the 2000s, a number of travelling restaurants designed for tourists, have been created; these can be found on trams, buses, etc. A restaurant's proprietor is called a restaurateur, this derives from the French verb restaurer, meaning "to restore". Professional cooks are called chefs, with there being various finer distinctions. Most restaurants will have various waiting staff to serve food and alcoholic drinks, including busboys who remove used dishes and cutlery. In finer restaurants, this may include a host or hostess, a maître d'hôtel to welcome customers and to seat them, a sommelier or wine waiter to help patrons select wines. A new route to becoming a restauranter, rather than working one's way up through the stages, is to operate a food truck. Once a sufficient following has been obtained, a permanent restaurant site can be opened; this trend has become common in the UK and the US.
A chef's table is a table located in the kitchen of a restaurant, reserved for VIPs and special guests. Patrons may be served a themed tasting menu served by the head chef. Restaurants can charge a higher flat fee; because of the demand on the kitchen's facilities, chef's tables are only available during off-peak times. In China, food catering establishments that may be described as restaurants have been known since the 11th century in Kaifeng, China's capital during the first half of the Song dynasty. Growing out of the tea houses and taverns that catered to travellers, Kaifeng's restaurants blossomed into an industry catering to locals as well as people from ot
Coastal defence and fortification
Coastal defence and coastal fortification are measures taken to provide protection against military attack at or near a coastline, for example and coastal artillery. Because an invading enemy requires a port or harbour to sustain operations, such defences are concentrated around such facilities, or places where such facilities could be constructed. Coastal artillery fortifications followed the development of land fortifications incorporating land defences. Through the middle 19th century, coastal forts could be bastion forts, star forts, polygonal forts, or sea forts, the first three types with detached gun batteries called "water batteries". Coastal defence weapons throughout history were heavy naval guns or weapons based on them supplemented by lighter weapons. In the late 19th century separate batteries of coastal artillery replaced forts in some countries; the amount of landward defence provided began to vary by country from the late 19th century. Booms were usually part of a protected harbor's defences.
In the middle 19th century underwater minefields and controlled mines were used, or stored in peacetime to be available in wartime. With the rise of the submarine threat at the beginning of the 20th century, anti-submarine nets were used extensively added to boom defences, with major warships being equipped with them through early World War I. In World War I railway artillery emerged and soon became part of coastal artillery in some countries. In littoral warfare, coastal defence counteracts naval offence, such as naval artillery, naval infantry, or both. Rather than the beach assault of modern amphibious operations, seaborne assaults of the classical and medieval age more took the form of raiders sailing up river and landing well inland of the coast. Prior to the invention of naval artillery that could sink hostile ships, the most that coastal defence could do was act as an early warning system, that could alert local naval or ground forces of the impending attack. For example, in the late Roman period the Saxon Shore was a system of forts at the mouths of navigable rivers, watch towers along the coast of Britannia and Gaul.
In Anglo-Saxon Wessex protection against Viking raiders took the form of coast watchers whose duty was to alert the local militia. In addition there was a system of fortified towns, that were positioned at choke points along navigable rivers to prevent raiders from sailing inland. Sea forts are surrounded by water – if not permanently at least at high tide. Unlike most coastal fortifications, which are on the coast, sea forts are not. Instead, they are specially built structures; some sea forts, such as Fort Denison or Fort Sumter, are within harbours in proximity to the coast, but most are at some distance off the coast. Some, such as for example Bréhon Tower or Fort Drum occupy small islands. Fort Louvois is on a built-up island, 400 meters from the shore, connected to it by a causeway that high tide submerses; the most elaborate sea fort is Murud-Janjira, so extensive that one might call it a sea fortress. The most recent sea forts were the Maunsell Forts, which the British built during World War II as anti-aircraft platforms.
One type consisted of a concrete pontoon barge on which stood two cylindrical towers on top of, the gun platform mounting. They were assembled as complete units, they were fitted out before being towed out and sunk onto their sand bank positions in 1942. The other type consisted of seven interconnected steel platforms built on stilts. Five platforms carried guns arranged in a semicircle around the sixth platform, which contained the control centre and accommodation; the seventh platform, set further out than the gun towers, was the searchlight tower. In Colonial times the Spanish Empire diverted significant resources to fortify the Chilean coast as consequence of Dutch and English raids; the Dutch occupation of Valdivia in 1643 caused great alarm among Spanish authorities and triggered the construction of the Valdivian Fort System that begun in 1645. China first established formal coastal defences during the early Ming dynasty to protect against attacks by pirates. Coastal defences were maintained through both the Ming dynasty and the Qing dynasty that followed, protecting the coast against pirates, against the Portuguese and other European powers that sought to impose their will on China.
Subsequently, the European powers built their own coastal defences to protect the various colonial enclaves that they established along the Chinese coast. One such, a fort built by the British commanding the Lei Yue Mun channel between Hong Kong Island and the mainland, has been converted into the Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence; this tells the story of coastal defence along the Sou
