The Moorish Wall, also known as the Philip II Wall and formerly the Muralla de San Reymondo ( en, St. Raymond's Wall) is a defensive curtain wall built in the 16th century that formed part of the southern

fortifications A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

of the British Overseas Territory of

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

. It was completed by 1575. The wall ran from the top of a steep cliff above the lower section of the

Charles V Wall The Charles V Wall is a 16th-century defensive curtain wall that forms part of the fortifications of the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. Originally called ''Muralla de San Benito'' (English: St. Benedict's Wall), it was built in 1540 ...

up the slope of the Rock of Gibraltar to its crest, north of the upper section of the Charles V Wall and is now within the Upper Rock Nature Reserve.

Charles V Wall

In September 1540 an Ottoman force commanded by

Barbarossa Barbarossa, a name meaning "red beard" in Italian, primarily refers to: * Frederick Barbarossa (1122–1190), Holy Roman Emperor * Hayreddin Barbarossa (c. 1478–1546), Ottoman admiral * Operation Barbarossa, the Axis invasion of the Soviet Un ...

attacked Gibraltar and took more than seventy prisoners as slaves. The Charles V Wall, originally called the ''Muralla de San Benito'' ( en, St. Benedict's Wall), was built in 1540 to help defend The Rock against further attacks from the south. Starting around 1552 the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

military

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

Giovanni Battista Calvi Giovanni Battista Calvi (also known as Giovan Battista Calvi, Gianbattista Calvi and/or Juan Bautista Calvi) was an Italian military engineer at the service of the Spanish Monarchy during the 16th century. Early career Despite popular belief tha ...

made improvements to the wall. Calvi designed a wall that ran west–east in a straight line from the coast for about until it reached a precipice. A traverse ran north–south along the top of the cliff, and then a

zigzag A zigzag is a pattern made up of small corners at variable angles, though constant within the zigzag, tracing a path between two parallel lines; it can be described as both jagged and fairly regular. In geometry, this pattern is described as ...

wall ran up to the crest of The Rock.

Construction of the Moorish Wall

Philip II of Spain succeeded

Charles V Charles V may refer to: * Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558) * Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain * Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise * Charles V, Duke of Lorraine (1643–1690) * Infa ...

in 1558, and commissioned the Genoese engineer

Giovan Giacomo Paleari Fratino Giovan Giacomo Paleari Fratino (1520–1586), known as ''El Fratin'' or ''Il Fratino'' ("The Little Friar"), was a military engineer who served the Spanish Emperor Charles V, and then his son Philip II of Spain. He is known for having designed the ...

to continue the improvements to Gibraltar's fortifications. El Fratino decided that the traverse should be abandoned, and that the work already completed on Calvi's zigzag wall should be demolished. Instead, he believed an upper wall should continue the line of the lower wall from the top of the cliff to the crest of The Rock. El Fratino's upper wall was completed by 1575, running parallel but to the north of Calvi's zigzag upper wall. It runs up the slope of The Rock to the

Signal Station A signal station is a form of Aids to Navigation that is defined by the IHO simply as "A signal station is a place on shore from which signals are made to ships at sea". While this broad definition would include coastal radio stations and fog sig ...

. Work was stopped on the traverse, but Philip II's chief engineer

Tibúrcio Spannocchi Tiburzio Spannocchi (1541–1609) (also Spanucchi, Spanochi, Spanoqui, Hispanochi etc.) was "king's engineer" to Philip II of Spain and subsequently to Philip III of Spain. He was named "Chief Engineer" in 1601. Origins Tiburzio Spannocchi was an ...

refused to stop work on the zigzag wall, which was eventually finished in 1599, and forms the upper portion of the Charles V Wall. The traverse wall along the top of the cliff was never built. Thus the Moorish Wall became a fallback defensive line. A 1786 book described the defenses as follows:

References

Notes Citations Sources * * * * * * * {{Fortifications of Gibraltar City walls in Gibraltar