ARX 8 is largely dedicated to the ongoing res-toration works on Malta’s unique fortifica-tions.

List of contents:

Malta restores her fortifications — A Fortifi-cations Interpretation Centre in Valletta —Bracing Mdina’s falling ramparts — A Cubete Artillero at Mdina? — 18th century Caponier unearthed in Birgu fortifications — Restora-tion of St Anthony Battery at Ras il-Qala, Gozo — The Templar Fortress of Tartous, Syria — A Chapel on the Ramparts — St Tho-mas Bay Tower and Battery, M’Scala — Mad-liena Tower - Malta’s’ Martello Tower’ — The Fortress of Elvas, Portugal — Review of News Items /Commentaries 2010-11

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French Military Architecture in Hospitaller Malta. By Dr Stephen C. Spiteri Ph.D. and Arch. Hermann Bon-nici M.Sc. Automated Narration. Click on the image to download.

PODCAST: A LA VAUBAN

On the occasion of the third

anniversary of the World Heritage nomination of Vauban’s fortifications,

the Vauban Network and the Arras Urban Area have to-gether organized an Interna-tional Study Day concerning Vauban’s influence through-out the world. The interna-tional seminar, entitled VAUBAN’S INFLUENCE TROUGHOUT THE WORLD was held at the citadel of Arras on 7th July 2011. Various historians of military architecture from

around the world dis-cussed the impact of Vauban’s methods in differ-ent re-gions of the world as well as the influ-ence on his con-temporary

engineers, and the ways in which the treaties on fortifi-cation spread out his ideas.

The seminar was well held in the Citadel of Arras, one of the many fortresses designed and built by Sebastien le Pre-stre de Vauban and was well attended with partipants from various continents.

Read More

VAUBAN’S INFLUENCE IN THE WORLD

A COMMEMORATIVE MASONRY ARCH FOR FINSBURY CIRCUS PARK

the Armed Forces of Malta (AFM), 3 Regiment erected a Masonry Arch to com-memorate this event. The arch was manufactured by AFM Sappers of the 2nd(Engineer) Regiment in 1979 with the intention to assemble it at Finsbury Cir-cus Park in London, United Kingdom, however this pro-ject failed to materialise ow-ing to the financial con-straints at the time. For the

AFM’s 40th Anniversary, it was deemed opportune to erect this arch so as to give tribute to all past Maltese sappers who served since 1800 to date, under both the British Administration and the subsequent Maltese Gov-ernment.

Read More

On the 40th Anniversary of

PAGE 2 MILITARY ARCHITECTURE

ON THE MILITARY ARCHITECTURE OF THE 100-TON GUN BATTERIES OF

G IBRALTAR AND MALTA—PART I

PAGE 3 NEWSLETTER

The 100-ton Armstrong coastal guns of Gibraltar and Malta have always generated considerable interest among stu-dents of fortification and coastal artillery. What has been less forthcoming, perhaps, is a study of the architectural features and the issues involved in the design, layout, and construction of the fortified works which were built to house and protect these singular leviathans. What were, for example, the design criteria that influenced the planimet-

ric layout of the batteries and their component parts, and how did the use of concrete and other materials influence overall design and construction ? How did these and other architectural issues affect the batteries’ performance as a defensive works? What were the batteries’ true ‘powers of resistance’ when faced with direct bombardment or landward assault? This article (spread over two parts) sets out to examine and draw attention to such issues generally ignored elsewhere. It does not, how-ever, pretend to answer all the questions raised at this stage, since many of concepts and mat-ters discussed here need to be studied further.

It is the present author’s inten-tion to publish the product of such research on the subject in a forthcoming publication on Brit-ish military architecture in the

Mediterranean, a new work that seeks to follow in the footsteps of Prof. Quentin Hughes’ seminal study entitled Britain in the Mediterranean and the Defence of her Naval Stations, published in Liverpool in 1981. Detailed sectional elevations and plans, together with brief historical descriptions of the Cambridge and Rinella batteries, re-produced from their respective record plans, were published by the present author in

his British Military Architecture in Malta, printed in 1996, and can be con-sulted in that publication. The scope of the present contribution is to provide additional new material together with 3D computer models that allow readers to better appreciate the shape, form, and structure of the 100-ton gun batteries.

Although the 100-ton guns were the central feature of these singular batteries ‒ and indeed, these structures were designed and built around the very guns themselves ‒ their protective perimeters (found only in the two works erected at Malta) did not depend on the central gun for their defence. As rightly remarked by Maj. O’Callaghan and Capt. Clarke in 1886,

the 100-ton gun was hardly the weapon to be ‘called upon to defend its own glacis.’ In defensive terms, therefore, the ele-ments of the batteries’ fortified enclosures – i.e., the revet-ments, the parapets, the ditches, the caponiers and the mus-ketry galleries – functioned independently of the main weapon which they were built to house.

Read More

Fort George is a bas-tioned' defence built on an isolated promontory

jutting in to the Moray Firth,

just a short bus ride from Inverness Town Centre.

The Fort is one of a chain of fortifications in and around the Great Glen, intended to subju-gate the Highlands of Scotland. Surrounded on three sides by water, the Eastern defences were built to resist land attack.

Fort George was planned after the Jaco-bite Rising of 1745 to 1746 to provide a secure base for British forces in the event of another up-rising in the Highlands of Scotland.

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a settlement site that had existed from the Bronze Age

through times of Celts and Germanic tribes to the Slavic settlement. In the times of the origins of the Ugrian state a royal castle had devel-oped out of the older Great Moravia hill-fort-roost.

The castle was built over The oldest stone con-struction of the castle is the pre-Romanesque rotunda, which dates back to Great Moravia period. At the end of 11th century a stone tower was erected (donjon,bergfrid).

Read More

FORT GEORGE

TRENČÍN CASTLE

FORT SUCHET

part of the Alpes-Maritimes département, the village of Sospel lies to the south of the green valley of la Bévera,

on the edge of the Mer-cantour park and the valley of les Merveilles, 15 km from Menton and the Mediterranean.

Fort Suchet, also known as du Barbonnet, is one of a group of fortifica-

tions in the region that constitutes the last bas-tion ahead of the road to Nice that prevents any potential invader com-ing from the col de Tende pass.

Read More

Situated in the eastern

PAGE 4 MILITARY ARCHITECTURE

During the Middle Ages, the period from roughly AD 1000-1450, the struc-ture of castles changed greatly from wooden motte and bailey to stone keeps and de-fenses within stone city walls. The reason for the change was largely in-fluenced by the crusades as Europeans went to the Holy Lands to con-quer.

In addition to conquer-ing, these kings brought

back a new way of de-signing and fortifying their castles in England, Wales and France. With-out the influence of the crusades, what we think of as true middle age castles would not exist.

Read More

In 1471 the Portuguese seized Tangier as part of their efforts to con-trol the Straits of Gi-braltar and the Moroc-can littoral.

Read More

Tangier is one of the few remaining places where batteries of Rifled Muz-zle Loaders may be seen.

They remain to this day essentially as their own-ers left them, shells still lying around and largely ignored by the local people.

Historical Background

IMPACT OF CRUSADER CASTLES UPON WESTERN CASTLES IN THE MIDDLE

AGES

ARMSTRONG BARBETTE BATTERIES OF TANGIER

TRELLEBORG DURING THE IRON AGE

position since the dis-covery – in connection with excavations in the medieval town – of a large coastal settlement site from the Vendel Pe-riod and Viking Age, as well as aViking Age for-tress. It has only been possible to excavate lim-ited parts of the site, which covered a consid-erable part of the medie-val town.

Read More A Study of a Coastal Area in South-West Scania, Sweden. During the 1980s a great deal of archaeological interest was focused on medieval towns. Several excava-tions uncovered not just remains of medieval towns but also traces of much older settlements. Along the south coast of Sweden, the Trelleborg area occupies a special

PAGE 5 NEWSLETTER

This current work - prefaced by Dr. Ray Bondin - is the result of thor-ough technical research of the systems and schools of bulwarked fortifica-tions adopted in Elvas (17th-19th centuries). The author brings to light the essential heritage values which he uses to justify the nomination of this city to World Heritage (UNESCO)

Book is in Portugeuse and English.

Click on the image for further details.

Parthenay in Romanesque Aquitaine.

The Art of Medieval Urbanis examines the role of monumental sculp-ture and architecture in the medieval cityscape, offering a pathbreaking interpretation of the relationships among art, architecture, and the his-tory of urbanism. In the first study of its kind, Robert Maxwell shifts attention away from the great Gothic cities of the later Middle Ages to focus on the urban context of art making in the earlier Romanesque era. Maxwell concentrates on Parthenay, a flourishing town in eleventh- and twelfth-century Aquitaine. Exploring Parthenay's exceptionally well-preserved structures, the author charts two centuries of urban de-velopment in southwestern France.

SYSTEMS AND SCHOOLS OF BULWARKED FORTIFICATION ADOPTED IN

ELVAS

THE ART OF MEDIEVAL URBANISM

VAUBAN AND THE FRENCH M ILITARY UNDER LOUIS XIV

An Illustrated History of Fortifications and Strategies

A man of inventiveness, versatility and reformist ideas, Marshal Sebastien Le Preste de Vauban built a formidable ring of fortresses to protect Franc's national frontiers. More than just a fortification designer, Vauban was also a gifted economist, author, and political strategist. This book tells the complete story of Vauban's exceptional career, placing him within the framework of Louis XIV's reign and revealing his lasting influ-ences in France and other nations. With the aid of numerous detailed drawings, 17th century bastioned fortification, artillery, and seige war-fare are described in detail. Vauban's fortifications that are still standing today are particularly highlighted.

PAGE 6 MILITARY ARCHITECTURE

ICOMOS works for the conservation and pro-tection of cultural heri-tage places. It is the only global non-government organisation of this kind, which is dedicated to promoting the appli-cation of theory, meth-odology, and scientific techniques to the con-servation of the archi-tectural and archaeo-logical heritage. Its work is based on the principles enshrined in the 1964 International

Charter on the Conser-vation and Restoration of Monuments and Sites (the Venice Charter). ICOMOS is a network of experts that benefits from the interdiscipli-nary exchange of its members, among which are architects, histori-ans, archaeologists, art historians, geographers, anthropologists, engi-neers and town plan-ners.

Go To Site

Website contains exten-sive database of fortifi-cations and links.

Go To Site

A Catalogue and Gazet-teer of Forts and For-tresses, Frontier Posts, Camps, Stockades, Blockhouses, Garrisons, Arsenals, and Seacoast Batteries in the United States and Canada and Associated Territories Including Select Listings for Mexico, Cuba, and Central America

ICOMOS

NORTH AMERICAN FORTS

GUÉDELON

quarry. Before the gaze of thousands of visitors, all the trades associated with castle-building - quarrymen, stonema-sons, woodcutters, car-penters, blacksmiths, tile makers, basket mak-ers, rope makers, carters and their horses - are working together to complete the castle.

Go To Site

In the heart of Puisaye, in Yonne, Burgundy, a team of fifty people have taken on an extraordi-nary feat: to build a cas-tle using the very same techniques and materi-als used in the Middle Ages. The materials needed for the construc-tion of the castle - wood, stone, earth, sand and clay - are all to be found here, in this abandoned

PAGE 7 NEWSLETTER

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PAGE 8 MILITARY ARCHITECTURE

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SOME N ICE P ICTURES

CROSSWORD - ANSWERS IN NEXT NEWSLETTER

PAGE 9 NEWSLETTER

The University of Cin-cinnati's most recent research in Cyprus re-

veals the remnants of a Late Bronze Age (1500-750 B.C.) fortress

that may have func-tioned to protect an im-portant urban economic center in the ancient world.

A recent find by a Uni-versity of Cincinnati ar-cheologist suggests an ancient Cypriot city was well protected from out-side threats.

That research, by UC's

Gisela Walberg, profes-sor of classics, will be presented at the annual workshop of the Cyprus American Archaeologi-cal Research Center in Nicosia, Cyprus, on June 25, 2011.

Read More

abortive Jameson Raid of 1896, the Volksraad of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek

realised that they would have to make far better arrangements for the defence of the Transvaal and, in particular, Pre-toria. The raiders had penetrated to within nineteen kilometres of

As a direct result of the Johannesburg.

Read More

UNIVERSITY UNCOVERS LATE BRONZE AGE FORTRESS

THE MYSTERY OF THE ZAR FORTS OF PRETORIA

OPHEL C ITY WALL SITE INAUGURATED

– a complex of buildings uncovered along the route of the fortifica-tions from the First Tem-ple period

(tenth-sixth centuries BCE), and the display of the earliest written document ever uncov-ered in Jerusalem – was inaugurated in a festive ceremony Tuesday.

The opening of the site,

located in the Walls Around Jerusalem Na-tional Park, and the ex-hibit in the Davidson Center are made possi-ble through a generous donation by Daniel Mintz and Meredith Berkman.

Read More

The Ophel City Wall site

PAGE 10 MILITARY ARCHITECTURE

A projected 5-year pro-gramme of excavation and landscape survey focussed on the hillfort at Burrough Hill began in June 2010.

The aim of the work is to reassess the nature and role of this prominent monument in the light of recent research in the region and nationally, and at the same time to provide excavation training for under-graduate students. The

work is being under-taken by University of Leicester School of Ar-chaeology & Ancient History, and is jointly directed by members of the academic staff and staff from University of Leicester Archaeologi-cal Services (ULAS).

Read More

Dumnoniorum) in Brit-ain and Timgad (Thamugadi) in North Africa. Despite the dis-tance separating them, both of these cities share a grid-like system of streets that cross each other at right angles. This orthogonal design betrays the military ori-gins of these sites, based on the castra of the Ro-

An Examination of the Common Features of Roman Settlements in Italy and the Empire

and a System to aid in the Discovery of their Origins. Archaeological evidence from cities throughout the Roman Empire has shown simi-larities between certain sites such as Exeter (Isca

man army that will be discussed below.

Read More

EXCAVATIONS AT BURROUGH H ILL

CASTRA ET URBS ROMANA

FINDING UNIVERSAL VALUES OF FORTIFIED HERITAGE

the interpretation of the ensemble), which bear cultural and civilization testimonies, in several fields (historical, pale-ontological, archaeo-logical, architectural, linguistic, documental, artistic, ethnographical, scientific, social, indus-trial or technical), com-prising values of mem-ory, antiquity, authen-ticity, originality, rarity,

peculiarity or exem-plariness, that we must preserve, make use of and transmit to future generations because they constitute an im-portant piece of our lo-cal, regional, national or world identity.

Read More

We have to start from the central concept that we will deal with throughout this sympo-sium: Cultural Heritage. I can try to define it, based on the legislation of my country, which is well developed on this subject: tangible and intangible elements (within their corre-sponding contexts if they are important for

PAGE 11 NEWSLETTER

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