The World As I See It !

Venice Italy

Bari Italy

Bari Italy

St. Mark's Tower

St. Mark's or Qalet Marku Tower is one of the thirteen Towers built by the Spanish Grand Master Martin De Redin in 1658/59 as a gift to the Order of the Knights of St. John of Malta on becoming Grand Master. The Tower was armed with a 3 inch iron cannon, and was manned by one bombardier and three gunners. The photo was taken by the author of this Blog, Graham Busuttil, on a beautiful Mediterranean day in November 2008, that is, some 350 years after the Tower was constructed to protect the Maltese Islands and its people from acts of piracy. The Towers were built along the shores of our Islands from which neighbouring Towers were visable and created a line of communication around the islands in case of attack from corsairs. The design of the de Redin Towers is based on the design of the last of the five Lascaris Towers, the Sciuta (Xuta) Tower (1640) at Wied iz-Zurrieq built by de Redin's predecessor, Grand Master Juan de Lascaris-Castellar. The five Lascaris Towers and the thirteen de Redin Towers are known as the "de Redin Towers". This Tower has also been restored by Din L-Art Helwa to whom the nation is indebted.