The National War Museum is a museum in

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 ...

in the city of

Valletta Valletta (, mt, il-Belt Valletta, ) is an administrative unit and capital of Malta. Located on the main island, between Marsamxett Harbour to the west and the Grand Harbour to the east, its population within administrative limits in 2014 wa ...

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 one of the most popular museums in Malta. From 1975 to 2014, its collection mainly focused on World War I and World War II. It was refurbished in 2015, and its collections now include exhibits ranging from the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

to 2004.

Location

The museum was located in the Old Drill Hall of Lower Saint Elmo. The building was originally a

gunpowder magazine A gunpowder magazine is a magazine (building) designed to store the explosive gunpowder in wooden barrels for safety. Gunpowder, until superseded, was a universal explosive used in the military and for civil engineering: both applications ...

, that was converted into an armoury in around 1853. Anti-aircraft gun crews were trained there during World War II. Lower Saint Elmo is the lower part of Fort Saint Elmo, built in the 18th and 19th centuries. It was built after the original star fort (Upper Saint Elmo) and the outer fortifications (Carafa Enceinte), and is the most dilapidated part of the fort.

Collections

Since its renovation in 2015, the museum contains artifacts relating to the military history of Malta ranging from the

to Malta's entry into the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

in 2004. The museum's most important collection relates to World War II . There are various photographic panels showing life in Malta during the war, especially the hardships of civilian life and damage from aerial bombardment. One of the highlights includes the fuselage of a

Gloster Sea Gladiator The Gloster Gladiator is a British biplane fighter. It was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) (as the Sea Gladiator variant) and was exported to a number of other air forces during the late 1930s. Developed private ...

''N5520'', the only survivor from the Hal Far Fighter Flight. The museum also contains a

Willys Jeep The Willys MB and the Ford GPW, both formally called the U.S. Army Truck, -ton, 4×4, Command Reconnaissance, commonly known as the Willys Jeep, Jeep, or jeep, and sometimes referred to by its supply catalogue designation G503,According to i ...

'Husky' used by

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

before the

invasion of Sicily The Allied invasion of Sicily, also known as Operation Husky, was a major campaign of World War II in which the Allied forces invaded the island of Sicily in July 1943 and took it from the Axis powers ( Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany). It bega ...

and also by

Roosevelt Roosevelt may refer to: *Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919), 26th U.S. president * Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945), 32nd U.S. president Businesses and organisations * Roosevelt Hotel (disambiguation) * Roosevelt & Son, a merchant bank * Rooseve ...

while visiting Malta. The George Cross that was awarded to Malta by King George VI in April 1942 is also on display at the museum. The collection also contains wreckage from crashed aircraft, captured German machine guns, a torpedo, trench mortars and other weapons.

Renovation

The museum closed to the public on 21 September 2014 during the restoration of Fort St Elmo. It was renovated and reopened in May 2015, having a larger collection than the original museum.

References

{{Authority control Museums in Malta

Military and war museums World War I museums World War II museums Museums established in 1975 Museums in Valletta World War II sites in Malta Sites managed by Heritage Malta

Location

Collections

Renovation

See also

References