Qbajjar Battery guardianship entrusted to Din l-Art Helwa Ghawdex

by Gozo News · March 3, 2026

The committee of Din l-Art Helwa Ghawdex welcomes the decision announced today by the Government confirming that the Government will sign a guardianship deed entrusting our NGO to restore, preserve and manage the historic Qbajjar Battery in Gozo with access to the public and visitors to our islands hand in hand with the Zebbug Local Council.

The Qbajjar Battery is an artillery battery built by the Order of Saint John in 1715 as part of a series of coastal fortifications around the coast of the Maltese Islands and is one of only two left in Gozo and one in Comino. Both of these the St Anthony Battery in Qala and that of St Mary Battery in Comino have been in the past already restored by Din l-Art Helwa.

In the 1970s, the Battery was handed over for private use as a nightclub and disco. ”Significant damage was inflicted through excavations and later accretions, which severely compromised the fabric of the building,” said Din l-Art Helwa Ghawdex.

The organisation said that in recent years, it has been left exposed to the elements, with a real risk of total loss. With unrestricted public access, it has also been used for camping and summer squatting and has effectively become a dumping ground.

In October 2005 the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage suggested to the Lands Department that the battery should be passed over to Din l-Art Helwa, for the building to be maintained properly, to have all the illegal additional constructions removed, and to open the battery to the public.

The organisation said that several successive administrations have since made promises to Din l-Art Helwa that the Battery will be passed on the the NGO but various reasons the situation remained stalled for many years while the Battery continued to deteriorate.

Din L-Art Helwa Ghawdex expressed its thanks to the Prime Minister Robert Abela, Minister for Culture Owen Bonnici and Minister for Gozo Clint Camilleri for ”finally making good on the many promises made to sign the Guardianship deed with Din l-Art Helwa Ghawdex and to retain and return this historic site for the common good and for the enjoyment of the general public.”

It concluded by saying that ”we take heart from the consistent support extended to us by the Zebbug Local Council to preserve this architectural structure and and the increasingly strong message from so many across Maltese society that Malta and Gozo’s history and patrimony are not for sale.”