Marsamxett Harbour (), historically also referred to as Marsamuscetto, is a

natural harbour A harbor (American English), harbour (British English; see spelling differences), or haven is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be docked. The term ''harbor'' is often used interchangeably with ''port'', which is a ...

on the island of

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

. It is located to the north of the larger

Grand Harbour The Grand Harbour ( mt, il-Port il-Kbir; it, Porto Grande), also known as the Port of Valletta, is a natural harbour on the island of Malta. It has been substantially modified over the years with extensive docks (Malta Dockyard), wharves, and ...

. The harbour is generally more dedicated to leisure use than the Grand Harbour.

Description

The harbour mouth faces north east and is bounded to the north by Dragut Point and

Tigné Point Tigné Point is a peninsula in Sliema, Malta. The area was originally occupied by several fortifications and a British barracks complex, which were left derelict for many years, until the area was redeveloped in the early 21st century. The area ...

. Its northwest shore is made up of the towns of

Sliema Sliema ( mt, Tas-Sliema ) is a town located on the northeast coast of Malta in the Districts of Malta#Northern Harbour District, Northern Harbour District. It is a major residential and commercial area and a centre for shopping, bars, dining, a ...

Gżira Gżira ( mt, Il-Gżira) is a town in the Central Region of Malta. It is located between Msida and Sliema, also bordering on Ta' Xbiex. It has a population of 8,029 as of March 2014. The word ''Gżira'' means "island" in Maltese, and the ...

and

Ta' Xbiex Ta' Xbiex () is a locality and Local Council in the Central Region of Malta with a population of 2148 (estimated 2019) It is part of a small headland within the Marsamxett Harbour, right between the villages of Msida and Gżira. Etymology It ...

. The harbour then extends inland to

Pietà The Pietà (; meaning "pity", "compassion") is a subject in Christian art depicting the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus after his body was removed from the cross. It is most often found in sculpture. The Pietà is a specific form o ...

and

Msida Msida ( mt, L-Imsida, it, Misida) is a harbour town in the Central Region of Malta with a population of 7, 623 (2021). Location The town is located just west of Valletta on the northeast coast of Malta. The neighbouring towns of Msida are ...

. Off Gżira lies

Manoel Island Manoel Island ( mt, Il-Gżira Manoel), formerly known as Bishop's Island ( mt, Il-Gżira tal-Isqof, it, Isola del Vescovo) or the ''Isolotto'', is a small island which forms part of the municipality of Gżira in Marsamxett Harbour, Malta. It is n ...

, now connected to the mainland by a bridge. The south eastern shore of the harbour is formed by the Sciberras peninsula, which is largely covered by the town of

Floriana Floriana ( mt, Il-Furjana or ''Il-Floriana''), also known by its title Borgo Vilhena, is a fortified town in the South Eastern Region area of Malta, just outside the capital city Valletta. It has a population of 2,205 as of March 2014. Floriana i ...

and the city of

Valletta Valletta (, mt, il-Belt Valletta, ) is an Local councils of Malta, administrative unit and capital city, capital of Malta. Located on the Malta (island), main island, between Marsamxett Harbour to the west and the Grand Harbour to the east, i ...

. At its tip lies the 16th century

Fort Saint Elmo Fort Saint Elmo ( mt, Forti Sant'Iermu) is a star fort in Valletta, Malta. It stands on the seaward shore of the Sciberras Peninsula that divides Marsamxett Harbour from Grand Harbour, and commands the entrances to both harbours along with Fort ...

. The Sciberras peninsula divides Marsamxett from the larger parallel natural harbour,

. Along its partner the

, Marsamxett lies at the centre of gently rising ground. Development has grown up all around the twin harbours and up the slopes so that the whole bowl is effectively one large

conurbation A conurbation is a region comprising a number of metropolises, cities, large towns, and other urban areas which through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban or industrially developed area. In most ca ...

. Much of Malta's population lives within a three kilometer radius of Floriana. This is now one of the most densely populated areas in Europe. The harbours and the surrounding areas make up Malta's Northern and

Southern Harbour District Malta is for non-local government purposes divided into districts as opposed to the local government localities. The three main types of such districts – statistical, electoral at national level, and policing – have no mainstream admin ...

s. Together, these districts contain 27 of 68 local councils. They have a population of 213,722 which make up over 47% of the total population of the Maltese islands.

History

Aerial_Views_of_Mersa_Museta_Harbour,_Malta

The Royal Navy during the Second World War A14538

In 1551, Ottomans landed at Marsamxett and marched upon the Grand Harbour, but did not attack as they found strong defences built by the

Order of Saint John The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headq ...

. This skirmish was followed by an unsuccessful attack against

Mdina Mdina ( mt, L-Imdina ; phn, 𐤌𐤋𐤈, Maleṭ; grc, Μελίττη, Melite (ancient city), Melíttē; ar, مدينة, Madīnah; ), also known by its Italian-language titles ("Old City") and ("Notable City"), is a fortifications of Mdin ...

, and successful sacking of Gozo and conquest of Tripoli. After this attack,

was built to guard both Marsamxett and the Grand Harbour. A much larger Ottoman invasion came in 1565, in the

Great Siege of Malta The Great Siege of Malta ( Maltese: ''L-Assedju l-Kbir'') occurred in 1565 when the Ottoman Empire attempted to conquer the island of Malta, then held by the Knights Hospitaller. The siege lasted nearly four months, from 18 May to 13 September ...

. During the siege, the Ottoman fleet was based at Marsamxett, and cannons were stationed at Tigné Point in order to bombard Fort Saint Elmo. During the attack, the Ottoman admiral

Dragut Dragut ( tr, Turgut Reis) (1485 – 23 June 1565), known as "The Drawn Sword of Islam", was a Muslim Ottoman naval commander, governor, and noble, of Turkish or Greek descent. Under his command, the Ottoman Empire's maritime power was extended ...

was killed by stray gunfire. The siege was eventually lifted and the Order and the Maltese emerged victorious. A new city was constructed on the Sciberras Peninsula, and was named

after the Grandmaster who commissioned it. The suburb of

was later built outside the city, and it has now developed into a town in its own right. In 1592, a wooden quarantine hospital was built on

, then known as ''l'Isola del Vescovo''. It was dismantled a year later, but a permanent

Lazzaretto A lazaretto or lazaret (from it, lazzaretto a diminutive form of the Italian word for beggar cf. lazzaro) is a quarantine station for maritime travellers. Lazarets can be ships permanently at anchor, isolated islands, or mainland buildings. ...

was built in its place in 1643, which was improved a number of times until its closure in 1929. Between 1723-33,

Fort Manoel Fort Manoel ( mt, Forti Manoel or ''Fortizza Manoel'') is a star fort on Manoel Island in Gżira, Malta. It was built in the 18th century by the Order of Saint John, during the reign of Grand Master António Manoel de Vilhena, after whom it ...

was built on Manoel Island, while

Fort Tigné Fort Tigné ( mt, Il-Forti Tigné - Il-Fortizza ta' Tigné) is a polygonal fort in Tigné Point, Sliema, Malta. It was built by the Order of Saint John between 1793 and 1795 to protect the entrance to Marsamxett Harbour, and it is one of the o ...

was built on

in 1793. British barracks were also built on Tigné Point, but these have since been demolished. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the British used Marsamxett, particularly Manoel Island, as a submarine base. The island was a

stone frigate A stone frigate is a naval establishment on land. "Stone frigate" is an informal term that has its origin in Britain's Royal Navy after its use of Diamond Rock, an island off Martinique, as a ' sloop of war' to harass the French in 1803–04 ...

, referred to as HMS ''Talbot'' or HMS ''Phœnicia''. Fort Manoel saw use once again, and it was bombarded by Luftwaffe bombers causing much destruction. In 1977, the 1st (Maritime) Battery of the Armed Forces of Malta moved its base to

Hay Wharf Hay Wharf or Haywharf ( mt, Xatt it-Tiben) is a naval base in Marsamxett Harbour, in Floriana, Malta. The wharf has been the main base of the Maritime Squadron of the Armed Forces of Malta since 1977, and a new facility was built between 2015 an ...

in Marsamxett. Sliema, Gżira, and Ta' Xbiex on the northern end of the harbour have seen a lot of development in recent years. Marsamxett Harbour is now mainly used for smaller watercraft when compared to Grand Harbour. There are a number of yacht marinas including at Msida and Manoel Island, a yacht yard, as well as tourist cruise boats which operate from Sliema. On 10 September 2006, during the Maltese round of the

Aero GP Aero GP is an international air racing series with up to eight specially designed high-performance sports planes all racing together at speeds of up to 400 km/h (250 mph) around a tight circuit just metres off the ground and from each o ...

series, a mid-air collision between two planes above the harbour caused the death of one of the pilots,

Gabor Varga Gabor Varga (15 March 1961 - 10 September 2006) was a Swedish aviator who was in the Guinness Book of Records for having performed 256 aerobatic loops in an hour. On 10 September 2006, Varga was performing during the Aero GP air show over Marsamx ...

Gallery

Malta - Sliema - Tigné Point - Fort Tigné 01 ies (Triq il-Lanca) 01 ies.jpg,

Sliema Malta - Sliema - Tigné Point (Triq San Bastjan) 01 ies.jpg,

Sliema Malta - Sliema + Sliema Creek (MSTHC) 01 ies.jpg, Sliema Creek
Sliema Malta - Sliema (Triq Ix-Xatt (Gzira)) 01 ies.jpg, Sliema Harbour
Sliema Malta - Gzira - Manoel Island - Fort Manoel (Tigné Pedestrian Bridge) 01 ies.jpg,

Gżira Malta - Gzira - Triq Il-Forti Manoel - Yacht Yard (Triq Ix-Xatt (Sliema)) 01 ies.jpg, Manoel Island Yacht Yard
Gżira Malta - Gzira - Manoel Island - Fort Manoel (Ferry Sliema-Valletta) 02 ies.jpg,

Gżira Malta - Gzira - Manoel Island - Lazzaretto (St. Andrew's Bastion) 01 ies.jpg, Lazzaretto
Gżira Malta - Gzira - Manoel Island Yacht Marina (Ix-Xatt Ta' Xbiex) 02 ies.jpg, Manoel Island Yacht Marina
Gżira Panoramic view of the Old Walled City of Valletta and its harbor. Malta, Mediterranean Sea.jpg, Lazzaretto Creek
Gżira and Ta' Xbiex Malta - Ta' Xbiex - ix-Xatt Ta' Xbiex+ir-Rampa Ta' Xbiex (MSTHC) 01 ies.jpg,

Malta - Msida+Pieta - Msida Marina (MSTHC) 01 ies.jpg, Ta' Xbiex Breakwater
Ta' Xbiex Malta - Ta' Xbiex - ix-Xatt Ta' Xbiex - Msida Marina (MSTHC) 03 ies.jpg,

Marina
Ta' Xbiex and Msida Malte, Msida, Parish church.jpg,

Malta-marsamxett-harbour-stlukeshospital.jpg, Saint Luke's Hospital
Pietà Malta - Floriana - Xatt it-Tiben + Pieta Creek 01 ies.jpg,

Creek
Pietà Malta - Floriana - Triq Sa Maison+San Salvatore Bastion (Ix-Xatt Ta' Xbiex) 01 ies.jpg,

Floriana Lines The Floriana Lines ( mt, Is-Swar tal-Furjana) are a line of fortifications in Floriana, Malta, which surround the fortifications of Valletta and form the capital city's outer defences. Construction of the lines began in 1636 and they were named ...

Floriana Malta - Floriana - Xatt it-Tiben 02 ies.jpg,

Floriana Valettasunrisepan1.jpg,

Malta - Valletta - Triq il-Lanca - Fort Saint Elmo (MSTHC) 03 ies.jpg,

Valletta

References

Coordinates In geometry, a coordinate system is a system that uses one or more numbers, or coordinates, to uniquely determine the position of the points or other geometric elements on a manifold such as Euclidean space. The order of the coordinates is sig ...

: {{Coord, 35, 54, 6, N, 14, 30, 29, E, type:waterbody Geography of Malta Ports and harbours of Malta Bays of Malta

Description

History

Gallery

See also

References