Qawra Tower - details and images
Qawra Tower stands near the tip of Qawra Point, between St Paul’s Bay and Salina Bay, in an area now occupied by hotels, restaurants, a seafront promenade and leisure facilities. During the seventeenth century, the surroundings were far less developed, and the elevated headland provided a useful position from which guards could observe vessels approaching two different bays on Malta’s north-eastern coast.
The tower was completed in 1638 during the rule of Grand Master Jean Paul Lascaris de Castellar. It belonged to an early chain of coastal posts now known as the Lascaris towers, which the Order of St John constructed to watch sections of the shoreline that could not be covered adequately from larger forts. Sources sometimes describe Qawra as the fourth tower in the group and sometimes place it differently, depending on which structures are included in the series.
A medieval lookout post may already have occupied the site or nearby ground before the Order constructed the stone tower. The new building provided better protection and allowed a small permanent garrison to remain on the point. Guards watched approaching ships and used fires, smoke or other signals to pass warnings towards neighbouring positions and the main military centres of Malta.
The structure rises to approximately 11 metres and has a square plan measuring about six metres on each side. Its interior originally contained one room on each of two levels. The lower part of the walls slopes slightly outwards, while a parapet surrounds the flat roof. Its compact size shows that it was designed primarily as an observation and communication post rather than as a fort capable of housing a large body of soldiers.
The original entrance was located on the upper floor and reached by a timber ladder or rope ladder. The guards could remove this access during an attack, preventing an enemy from entering directly from ground level. The lower chamber provided storage for water, ammunition and supplies, while the upper room served as the principal living space and gave access to the observation terrace.
Qawra’s place within the coastal signalling system improved after Għallis Tower was built in 1658–1659. The two posts were within sight of one another, connecting Qawra with the wider chain of De Redin towers. A warning could therefore travel from one position to the next and eventually reach Valletta, allowing the authorities to react before hostile vessels reached the coast.
In 1715, the Order added an artillery battery around the seaward side of the tower. It had a semicircular gun platform and a low parapet, allowing cannon to fire over the top rather than through individual openings. Two blockhouses were connected by a V-shaped defensive entrance, and their walls contained narrow loopholes for muskets. The new battery gave the position a greater ability to resist or delay a landing than the limited roof platform of the original tower.
An entrenchment wall was constructed across part of Qawra Point during the 1760s. Sections remain visible, although modern buildings, roads and leisure developments have changed much of the surrounding ground. Before the Second World War, two concrete gun positions were added to the battery, and a small pillbox was constructed nearby, showing that the headland retained some military value in a much later period.
The tower and battery survived, but later adaptations changed their original appearance and use. The monument is also called Qawra Point Tower or Fra Ben Tower, and the historic structures are now incorporated into a restaurant and lido complex. Much of the former battery serves as a swimming-pool area, while modern additions and repairs have been introduced around the tower.
Qawra Tower does not operate as a conventional military museum with a separate ticket, fixed heritage route and permanent historical exhibition. Access to its internal spaces depends on the private venue using the building, while the exterior can be viewed during a walk around Qawra Point. Visitors should therefore approach it mainly as a surviving coastal monument incorporated into a modern recreational site rather than as a fully restored watchtower open for independent exploration.
The tower is located close to the Malta National Aquarium and the Qawra seafront. Its simple architecture becomes easier to understand when viewed in relation to the surrounding coastline, since the position provided sightlines towards both St Paul’s Bay and Salina Bay. The building remains one of the few visible reminders of the period when Qawra Point formed an isolated part of Malta’s coastal defence network rather than a densely developed resort district.
Information source 
Information source
If you think that the photos or text published in this page infringes copyright laws please notify us using the Contact Page specifying the page url and the content that infringes copyright. Direct Booking uses third party materials and cannot control or verify the origin of the content. Direct Booking will remove any infringing copyright materials from its website and will inform the infringed party about doing so.
