Just a reminder that Din L-Art Helwa – Gozo is organising a Musical Soiree and Heritage Art Exhibition in aid of the restoration of Xlendi Tower, entitled ‘Arias and Art’ The event is being held on Sunday, the 31st of July 2011, at the Kempinski Hotel, San Lawrenz.

The concert will start at 8pm and will be made up of a programme of well-loved arias and songs from the shows, with international artistes, sopranos Sharon Wilson and Gozo’s own Georgina Gauci, accompanied by Sue De’Ath on the Piano

There will also be an Exhibition of Heritage-focused Paintings by well known local artists, which will be open from 7pm, as well as a welcome reception.

The evening will conclude with a sunset reception on the Terrace as well as an auction of a new painting of Xlendi Tower which has been kindly donated by Henry Alamango.

There will be numbered seating available on a first come, first served basis, tickets are €25.00 each.

For bookings and further details please email info@dinlarthelwa.org, or telephone 2155 9679, 2122 5952, 9905 1806.

When the Order of St John made Malta and its adjacent islands their home, they started to fortify Birgu and after the Great Siege of 1565 the built Valletta and fortified it. These cities were built close to the sea to be able to defend the island from Turkish fleets attacking from the sea. In contrast to Malta, Gozo’s fortified city was inland.

The Castello in Rabat was not close to the sea and therefore unable to attack any fleet before it lands. Gozo was continuously being attacked by Ottoman fleets who used to plunder this sister island and take its inhabitants as slaves.

The 1551 siege on Gozo was the most dramatic when about 6,000 Gozitans were taken into slavery and the Castello was destroyed. This served as a lesson that the invader had to be attacked before disembarking. It was however not before 1605 that the Garzes Tower was built in Mgarr overlooking the Mgarr Harbour. Grand Master Martino Garzes offered 12,000 scudi for the building of this tower which however was not started before 1605.

Grand Master Garzes died in 1601 and so it was his successor Alof de Wignacourt who ordered its construction in 1605 using the funds of his predecessor. The Garzes tower was demolished in 1848. In 1616 another tower was built in Marsalforn on the Qortin tx-Xaghra plateau but this was dismantled in 1716 as it was in danger of collapse.

The Xlendi Tower was built in 1650 and since the two towers preceding it do not exist today, this makes this tower the oldest one in Gozo. This is true if we are not to consider the Comino Tower which was built in 1618. The Xlendi Tower was first projected by Baliff Baldassare de Demandolx in 1649 and after slightly more than a year it was already completed. It was paid for by the Universita of Gozo and the Grand Master of the time, Lascaris, ordered that 2 iron guns be mounted.

The Capo Mastro, or commander of the tower, was paid by the Order and the Universita. The Capo Mastro was a bombardier and he manned the tower with an assistant or Aggiutante. It is 10 metres square and it has a unique shape as its seaward side has its lower part protruding out. It was also manned by three guards. In 1681, only 31 years after it was constructed, it was described to be in a bad state and needed restoration.

As with other coastal towers, under British rule the Xlendi tower was manned by the Royal Malta Fancible Regiment which changed its name in 1861 to the Royal Malta Fancible Artillery. In 1873 the latter gave up its coastal guard commitments and so it was abandoned. During the second World War the tower was used as a Coast Observation Post and was manned by the Coast Police.

With the advent of the aeroplane and modern warfare, the fortifications around our islands became useless. The Xlendi tower also lost its military role and private persons started showing interest to use them. In 1954 the tower was leased to private persons but was eventually abandoned to its fate.

The tower is now being restored as a joint venture between Din l-Art Helwa and the Munxar Local Council, expenses on a 50/50 basis. Medserv is sponsoring Din l-Art Helwa’s share of the expenses.

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