1.
Saint Thomas Tower
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This article is about the tower in Marsaskala, Malta. There is another tower of the name in the Tower of London. Saint Thomas Tower, also known as Fort Saint Thomas, is a bastioned watchtower in Marsaskala. It was built in 1614, the third of six Wignacourt towers, an artillery battery was added to the tower in the early 18th century. Saint Thomas Tower is the largest watchtower in Malta, Saint Thomas Tower was built above the shore on the seaward face of the headland of il-Hamriga in Marsaskala. It is a fortification intended to prevent the landing of troops in the sheltered anchorages of Marsaskala Creek. Construction of the tower was approved in July 1614, at the time of the raid of Żejtun, the tower was named after a chapel dedicated to St Thomas which stood close to where the tower now lies. It cost 13,450 scudi,6 tari and 4 grani to build, there are claims that it was designed by Vittorio Cassar, but these are disputed since Cassar was probably dead when work on the tower began. The tower has very thick walls and has four pentagonal bastioned turrets projecting outwards on each corner, the towers entrance was through a vaulted doorway with a wooden drawbridge. The drawbridge is still intact and it is the only original one to have survived in Malta. The tower is surrounded by a rock-hewn ditch, after the De Redin towers were built, St Thomas had Żonqor and Xrobb l-Għaġin Towers in its line of sight, but these are now either in ruins or completely demolished. In 1715, St Thomas Tower was reinforced by the addition of a battery on the seaward face. Construction of the battery cost a total of 382 scudi,8 tarì,11 grani and 1 piccolo, during the French blockade of 1798–1800, the tower was stormed and captured by Maltese insurgents. The tower remained in use by the British until the 19th century, the British did not make any major alterations to the tower, and only some minor changes to the structure were made. At some point, the tower was used as a prison. Today, the town of Marsaskala has expanded, surrounding the tower with modern buildings, in 1982, the four-star Corinthia Jerma Palace Hotel was built between the tower and the coast, effectively ruining the towers relation with the sea. The hotel closed in 2007, and it is now in a dilapidated state, meanwhile, the tower itself now forms the centerpiece of a plaza around its shoreward face. For some time, it was used as a restaurant and pizzeria, in 2008, it was handed over to Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna, a heritage foundation
2.
Marsaskala
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The bay is sheltered to the north by Ras iż-Żonqor, the south-east corner of Malta, and to the south by the headland of Ras il-Gżira. The parish church is dedicated to Sant Anna and St. Annes feast is celebrated at the end of July in Marsaskala, the town has a winter population of 12,134 people, but swells to around 20,000 in summer. Different opinions exist regarding the origin of the name Marsaskala, while it is commonly agreed that Marsa is an Arabic word meaning bay, Skala has given rise to different interpretations. It could have derived from Sqalli for Marsaskala was frequented by Sicilian fishermen since Malta is just 60 miles south from Sicily. Maybe it was derived from the Sicilian Piccola Cala meaning little inlet or it was just a reference to some rock-cut steps on the edge since scala also means a straight flight of steps. Wied means valley and Għajn refers to the spring of fresh water, literally, Wied il-Għajn means Valley of the Spring. Man inhabited this area thousands of years ago as evidenced by the archaeological remains found in various areas of Marsaskala. Its Pre-history is normally divided in the Neolithic period and the Bronze Age, some of the most ancient remains at Marsaskala are undoubtedly the cart-ruts, which are parallel channels formed in the rock face. Some of Maltas cart-ruts, mysteriously, lead straight into the sea, difficulties and uncertainties still abound as regards their use as well as the time and the way they were made, though it seems that they served to transport heavy burdens from one place to another. Early Christian catacombs as well as Roman era villa remains, were discovered in Marsaskala. Remains of Roman Baths were found in a field at il-Gżira, in 1614,60 Turkish ships carrying 6000 soldiers landed at Marsaskala and launched an attack on the south of Malta. Although the battle was a decisive Christian victory, it brought back fear, marsaskalas vulnerability to sea borne attacks was reduced by the building of Saint Thomas Tower later in that same year. The tower was financed by Grandmaster Alof de Wignacourt and it is one of a series of Wignacourt towers, St Thomas Tower continued to be used for military purposes until the 19th century and it has been recently restored. In 1659, Żonqor Tower, one of 13 De Redin towers was built in the area and this tower was demolished in 1915 by British military engineers. No traces of it can be seen anymore and a pillbox now stands in its place, Marsaskala has various other towers, but these were built privately by wealthy residents as fortified houses. These include Mamo Tower, Tal-Buttar Tower and Tal-Gardiel Tower, in 1715, Briconet Redoubt was built by the Order and it is now well preserved and is used as a police station. A second redoubt was built close to Marsaskala but it was destroyed in 1915, in 1882, the British built Żonqor Battery but it was not used a lot since it was unsuitable for proper defence. His claim was never confirmed and discredited by those related in the field, as a monument over the more recent Maltese history are the remains of the previous four-star Corinthia Jerma Palace Hotel at the very tip of mainland Ras il-Gżira
3.
Fortification
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Fortifications are military constructions or buildings designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and also used to solidify rule in a region during peace time. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs, the term is derived from the Latin fortis and facere. From very early history to modern times, walls have been a necessity for cities to survive in a changing world of invasion. Some settlements in the Indus Valley Civilization were the first small cities to be fortified, in ancient Greece, large stone walls had been built in Mycenaean Greece, such as the ancient site of Mycenae. A Greek Phrourion was a collection of buildings used as a military garrison. These construction mainly served the purpose of a tower, to guard certain roads, passes. Though smaller than a fortress, they acted as a border guard rather than a real strongpoint to watch. The art of setting out a camp or constructing a fortification traditionally has been called castramentation since the time of the Roman legions. Fortification is usually divided into two branches, permanent fortification and field fortification, there is also an intermediate branch known as semi-permanent fortification. Castles are fortifications which are regarded as being distinct from the fort or fortress in that they are a residence of a monarch or noble. Roman forts and hill forts were the antecedents of castles in Europe. The Early Middle Ages saw the creation of towns built around castles. Medieval-style fortifications were made obsolete by the arrival of cannons in the 14th century. Fortifications in the age of black powder evolved into much lower structures with greater use of ditches and earth ramparts that would absorb, Walls exposed to direct cannon fire were very vulnerable, so were sunk into ditches fronted by earth slopes. The arrival of explosive shells in the 19th century led to yet another stage in the evolution of fortification, steel-and-concrete fortifications were common during the 19th and early 20th centuries. However the advances in warfare since World War I have made large-scale fortifications obsolete in most situations. Demilitarized zones along borders are arguably another type of fortification, although a passive kind, many military installations are known as forts, although they are not always fortified. Larger forts may be called fortresses, smaller ones were known as fortalices
4.
Tower
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A tower is a tall structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant margin. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, Towers are specifically distinguished from buildings in that they are not built to be habitable but to serve other functions. Towers can be stand alone structures or be supported by adjacent buildings or can be a feature on top of a structure or building. Old English torr is from Latin turris via Old French tor, the Latin term together with Greek τύρσις was loaned from a pre-Indo-European Mediterranean language, connected with the Illyrian toponym Βου-δοργίς. The oldest known may be the stone tower in walls of Neolithic Jericho. Some of the earliest towers were ziggurats, which existed in Sumerian architecture since the 4th millennium BC, the most famous ziggurats include the Sumerian Ziggurat of Ur, built the 3rd millennium BC, and the Etemenanki, one of the most famous examples of Babylonian architecture. The latter was built in Babylon during the 2nd millennium BC and was considered the tallest tower of the ancient world, some of the earliest surviving examples are the broch structures in northern Scotland, which are conical towerhouses. These and other examples from Phoenician and Roman cultures emphasised the use of a tower in fortification, for example, the name of the Moroccan city of Mogador, founded in the first millennium BC, is derived from the Phoenician word for watchtower. The Romans utilised octagonal towers as elements of Diocletians Palace in Croatia, which monument dates to approximately 300 AD, while the Servian Walls, the Chinese used towers as integrated elements of the Great Wall of China in 210 BC during the Qin Dynasty. Towers were also an important element of castles, other well known towers include the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Pisa, Italy built from 1173 until 1372 and the Two Towers in Bologna, Italy built from 1109 until 1119. The Himalayan Towers are stone towers located chiefly in Tibet built approximately 14th to 15th century, up to a certain height, a tower can be made with the supporting structure with parallel sides. However, above a height, the compressive load of the material is exceeded. This can be avoided if the support structure tapers up the building. A second limit is that of buckling—the structure requires sufficient stiffness to avoid breaking under the loads it faces, many very tall towers have their support structures at the periphery of the building, which greatly increases the overall stiffness. A third limit is dynamic, a tower is subject to varying winds, vortex shedding and these are often dealt with through a combination of simple strength and stiffness, as well as in some cases tuned mass dampers to damp out movements. Varying or tapering the outer aspect of the tower with height avoids vibrations due to vortex shedding occurring along the building simultaneously. Although not correctly called towers many modern skyscraper are often called towers, in the United Kingdom, tall domestic buildings are referred to as tower blocks. In the United States, the original World Trade Center had the nickname the Twin Towers, the tower throughout history has provided its users with an advantage in surveying defensive positions and obtaining a better view of the surrounding areas, including battlefields
5.
Fortified tower
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A fortified tower is one of the defensive structures used in fortifications, such as castles, along with curtain walls. Castle towers can have a variety of different shapes and fulfil different functions, square or rectangular towers are easy to construct and give a good amount of usable internal space. Their disadvantage is that the corners are vulnerable to mining, despite this vulnerability, rectangular towers continued to be used, and Muslim military architecture generally favoured them. Round towers, also called drum towers, are resistant to siege technology such as sappers. The round front is more resistant than the side of a square tower. This principle was understood in antiquity. The horseshoe-shaped tower is a compromise that gives the best of a round, the semicircular side could resist siege engines, while the rectangular part at the back gives internal space and a large fighting platform on top. The large towers at Krak des Chevaliers and the towers at Harlech are good examples. Armenian castles such as Lampron also favoured this style, a common form is the octagonal tower, used in some bergfrieds and at Castel del Monte in Italy. For instance, the keep at Château Gaillard is round, wall towers, also known as mural towers, provide flanking fire to a straight part of the curtain wall. Corner towers enfilade the two adjoining wall faces, if corner towers are far apart, additional flanking towers may be added between them. Towers in a curtain wall are often open at the back. Particularly large towers are often the strongest point of the castle, as the gate is always a vulnerable point of a castle, towers may be built near it to strengthen the defences at this point. In crusader castles, there is often a gate tower, with the passage leading through the base of the tower itself. In European castles, it is common to have flanking towers on either side of the gatehouse. Flanking tower Gate tower Half tower Martello tower Scottish Broch Tower house Witch tower Kennedy, Hugh
6.
Turret
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In architecture, a turret is a small tower that projects vertically from the wall of a building such as a medieval castle. Turrets were used to provide a defensive position allowing covering fire to the adjacent wall in the days of military fortification. As their military use faded, turrets were used for decorative purposes, a turret can have a circular top with crenellations as seen in the picture at right, a pointed roof, or other kind of apex. The size of a turret is therefore limited by technology, since it puts additional stresses on the structure of the building and it would traditionally be supported by a corbel. Bartizan, an overhanging, wall-mounted turret found particularly on French and they returned to prominence in the 19th century with their popularity in Scottish baronial style
7.
Pagoda
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Some pagodas are used as Taoist houses of worship. Most pagodas were built to have a function, most commonly Buddhist. In some countries, the term may refer to other religious structures, the modern pagoda is an evolution of the Stupa which originated in Ancient India. Stupas are a structure where sacred relics could be kept safe. The architectural structure of the stupa has spread across Asia, taking on diverse forms as details specific to different regions are incorporated into the overall design. Another proposed etymology is Persian butkada, from but, idol and kada, temple, another etymology, found in many English language dictionaries, is modern English pagoda from Portuguese, from Sanskrit bhavati, feminine of bhagavatt, blessed from bhag, good fortune. The origin of the pagoda can be traced to the stupa, the stupa, a dome shaped monument, was used as a commemorative monument associated with storing sacred relics. In East Asia, the architecture of Chinese towers and Chinese pavilions blended into pagoda architecture, the pagodas original purpose was to house relics and sacred writings. This purpose was popularized due to the efforts of Buddhist missionaries, pilgrims, rulers, and ordinary devotees to seek out, distribute, on the other side, the stupa emerged as a distinctive style of Newari architecture of Nepal and was adopted in Southeast and East Asia. Nepali architect Araniko visited China and shared his skills to build stupa buildings in China and these buildings became prominent as Buddhist monuments used for enshrining sacred relics. Chinese iconography is noticeable in Chinese pagoda as well as other East Asian pagoda architectures, the image of the Shakyamuni Buddha in the abhaya mudra is also noticeable in some Pagodas. Buddhist iconography can be observed throughout the pagoda symbolism, Pagodas attract lightning strikes because of their height. Many pagodas have a decorated finial at the top of the structure, and when made of metal, also Pagodas come in many different sizes, as some may be small and others may be large. Pagodas traditionally have an odd number of levels, an exception being the eighteenth century pagoda folly designed by Sir William Chambers at Kew Gardens in London. The pagodas in Burma, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia are very different from Chinese and Japanese pagodas, Pagodas in those countries are derived from South Indian Dravidian architecture. Tiered towers with eaves, Songyue Pagoda on Mount Song, Henan, China. Miruksa Temple Pagoda at Iksan, Korea, built in the early 7th century, bunhwangsa at Gyeongju, Korea, built in 634. Xumi Pagoda at Zhengding, Hebei, China, built in 636, daqin Pagoda in China, built in 640
Media related to Watch towers at Wikimedia Commons
