Captain's Tower () is a

tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

Naxxar Naxxar () is a town and local council in the Northern Region of Malta. The population in March 2014 was 14,891. The Naxxar Church is dedicated to Our Lady of Victories. The annual village feast is celebrated on 8 September. It formerly hoste ...

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

. It was built sometime after 1548 by the

Order of Saint John The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), is a Catholic Church, Catholic Military order (religious society), military order. It was founded in the Crusader states, crusader K ...

. Today, the tower is in good condition.

History

The Captain's Tower was built by the

to house the captain of the

militia. It was built during the tenure of

Jean Parisot de Valette Fra' Jean "Parisot" de (la) Valette (; – 21 August 1568) was a French nobleman and 49th Grand Master of the Order of Malta, from 21 August 1557 to his death in 1568. As a Knight Hospitaller, joining the order in the , he fought with distin ...

, after the Order of St. John unsuccessfully tried to requisition the nearby Gauci Tower in 1548 to serve as the captain's residence. The Captain's Tower is one of the earliest Hospitaller fortifications in Malta. The tower's design is similar to that of the Gauci Tower as well as earlier Hospitaller towers in

Rhodes Rhodes (; ) is the largest of the Dodecanese islands of Greece and is their historical capital; it is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, ninth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Administratively, the island forms a separ ...

. The tower consists of a square plan with three floors. It contains a number of box

machicolation In architecture, a machicolation () is an opening between the supporting corbels of a battlement through which defenders could target attackers who had reached the base of the defensive wall. A smaller related structure that only protects key ...

s, and a ''columbaria'' which housed

carrier pigeon The homing pigeon is a variety of domestic pigeon (''Columba livia domestica''), selectively bred for its ability to find its way home over extremely long distances. Because of this skill, homing pigeons were used to carry messages, a practic ...

s to relay messages to

Mdina Mdina ( ; ), also known by its Italian epithets ("Old City") and ("Notable City"), is a fortifications of Mdina, fortified city in the Western Region, Malta, Western Region of Malta which served as the island's former capital, from antiquity ...

Valletta Valletta ( ; , ) is the capital city of Malta and one of its 68 Local councils of Malta, council areas. Located between the Grand Harbour to the east and Marsamxett Harbour to the west, its population as of 2021 was 5,157. As Malta’s capital ...

. The tower and the house built with it were used as a temporary hospital during the plague epidemic of 1675-6. The Captain's Tower lost most of its defensive value by the late 17th century, due to the construction of new fortifications such as the

Wignacourt towers The Wignacourt towers () are a series of large coastal watchtowers built in Malta by the Knights Hospitaller, Order of Saint John between 1610 and 1620. A total of six towers of this type were constructed, four of which survive. Background, con ...

Lascaris towers The Lascaris Towers () are a series of mostly small coastal watchtowers built in Malta by the Order of Saint John between 1637 and 1652. The first seven towers were built around the coast of mainland Malta in 1637 and 1638. Between 1647 and 165 ...

and

De Redin towers The De Redin Towers () are a series of small coastal watchtowers built in Malta by the Knights Hospitaller, Order of Saint John between 1658 and 1659. Thirteen towers were built around the coast of Malta (island), mainland Malta to act as watchto ...

Present day

Today, the Captain's Tower is in good condition. It is privately owned and is not open to the public.

References

External links

National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands
Fortified towers in Malta Hospitaller fortifications in Malta Towers completed in the 16th century Defunct hospitals in Malta Naxxar Limestone buildings in Malta National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands 16th-century fortifications {{Malta-geo-stub