Heritage Malta, in collaboration with the Restoration Unit within the Ministry of Resources and Infrastructure, has commenced restoration works at Fort St Angelo, with the first task being that of restoring the bell-cot, its bell and the surrounding area of the cavalier.

Although a period piece, the bell hanging on the bastions of Fort St Angelo is certainly not the one that might have been in place on the Fort during the Great Siege of 1565. This is borne by the fact that the bell carries an engraved inscription on its top which states “Anno Dni 1716 …” This is also supported by stylistic considerations, which point to an 18th century manufacturing date.

The bell will be examined by Heritage Malta conservators, before being put back in place, following the restoration of the badly damaged bell-cot. The structure supporting the bell seems to have been erected around the mid-twentieth century and replaced a loftier bell-cot that surmounted the former towering guardroom on the same cavalier.

In September Heritage Malta, the agency managing parts of the Fort, filed a full development application with MEPA for emergency works in various parts of the Fort. The Ministry of Education Culture and Sport, which is responsible for Heritage Malta, was allocated a sum of one and a half million Euros in last year’s budget specifically in connection with emergency works at Fort St Angelo.

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