St. James Cavalier

Following the raising of the Turkish Great Siege of 1565, by
reinforcements from various factions abroad in response to Knights of
St. John Grand Master La Velette's pleas for help, Pope Pius V sent
financial aid and his renowned military architect Fransesco Laparelli de
Cortona to help construct defensive works to protect Malta against any
further Turkish threats.

Nine huge circular Cavaliers were originally planned within the city walls,
to act as cannon platforms to protect Valetta from the landward
(Floriana) side and also to be of use to harass enemy troops who might
have breached the city walls.

Their walls of locally quarried limestone, between 5 & 6 metres
thick, were filled with compacted earth. Comfort levels were minimal as they
were intended to be platforms for cannon, to give good all round fields of
fire, and as arms stores, with access to the roof for cannons being by
means of a ramp. Of the intended nine, only two were eventually built,
the other one being named St. John, after the order of Knights of St. John.
Laparelli left Malta in 1569 and alas died of plague in Candia, Crete, in
1570. Maybe the remaining 7 Cavaliers might have been built, had he
lived.

FOREIGN INVADERS.
During the French occupation 1798-1800 by Napoleon's forces en route
to Egypt, nothing much seems to have been done to the Cavaliers of any
note, but when the British forces overthrew Napoleon troops in 1800 they later
converted St. James Cavalier into an officers mess and also built two
huge water storage tanks inside the raised fortifications, to try and ease
Malta's chronic water shortage problems. Water feeding these tanks
was routed via the Wigancourt Aqueduct, originally built between 1610 -
1615 and funded by its namesake Grand Master Alof de Wigancourt, at a
cost of around 155,000 scudi. Remains of this aqueduct can still be seen
today, providing car parking spaces under the arches for locals.

Also during the British period, a staircase leading up to the roof replaced
the ramp formerly used to haul cannon into position, and the large ground
floor area was converted into two floors, thus increasing the number of
rooms in the Cavalier. Changes were also made to increase ventilation to
combat humidity problems. In the latter days of British rule St. James
Cavalier was converted into that most iconic and institutional of British
Army buildings, the food store or NAAFI.

MODERN TIMES.
Today St. James Cavalier has been transformed out of all recognition
from its originally intended function of sturdy, functional, elevated
defensive gun platform, into a modern theatre and international function
centre. The ancient building fabric was treated sympthetically by
architect Professor England, together with restoration expert Michael
Ellul, rejecting the use of replica materials. What could be saved, was
restored and what could not, was replaced with modern day materials,
so that which looks old, really is old !

The two huge water tanks from the British period were converted, one
into a theatre and the other into the atrium, providing access to the upper
galleries, full of glass, steel and ancient stone. The British-built ceiling in
the Music Room has been removed and the room restored to its original
size, but the gift shop has retained its ceiling to split it in two. Partial
removal of ceilings in other halls has allowed both ancient and modern
periods to be displayed sympathetically within this recent modern
interpretation of this ancient and historical building.

Entry to St. James Cavalier is free and I found it a wonderful place to sit
and recharge one's emotional batteries, amidst the ghosts of history past
and present, as you take a rest from the mind-blowing beauty of Malta's
many marble-decorated and opulently gilded churches. Incidentally, St.
Johns Cavalier is today the Embassy of the Order of St. John, granted to
the Order in recognition of the trade and wealth they have brought to the
island.