Stephen C. Spiteri (born 15 September 1963) is a Maltese
military historian, author, lecturer and
preservationist. His work mainly deals with the military history 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 ...
, particularly military architecture, and he is regarded as the "leading expert on
Malta's fortifications."
Biography
He is the son of architect
Joseph M. Spiteri. Spiteri studied at
St. Aloysius' College and the
University of Malta
The University of Malta (, UM, formerly UOM) is a higher education institution in Malta. It offers undergraduate bachelor's degrees, postgraduate master's degrees and postgraduate doctorates. It is a member of the European University Association ...
. He is the Research Co-ordinator of the Restoration Directorate, the Maltese government's entity responsible for
restoring historic buildings, and he is also a lecturer at the International Institute for Baroque Studies of the University of Malta. Spiteri previously served as the Superintendent of Fortifications for a decade, and he was also Acting Curator of the
Palace Armoury
The Palace Armoury ( mt, L-Armerija tal-Palazz) is an arms collection housed at the Grandmaster's Palace in Valletta, Malta. It was the main armoury of the Order of St. John in the 17th and 18th centuries, and as such it was the last arsenal esta ...
in the
Grandmaster's Palace in
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 ...
.
He later became curator of the
Fortifications Interpretation Centre, also in Valletta.
Spiteri has written and illustrated numerous authoritative books dealing with the fortifications of Malta, especially those fortresses built by the
Knights Hospitaller
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 ...
. All of them are now collector's items fetching often steep prices. He also edits ''Arx – Online Journal of Military Architecture and Fortification'', which is published via his website ''MilitaryArchitecture.com''. Spiteri is one of the founding members of the Sacra Militia Foundation for the study of Hospitaller Military and Naval History, as well as the Fortress Explorer Society.
[Ciappara, F. (ed.) (2015)]
Fort Manoel: the design and construction of an 18th-century Hospitaller fort (book review)
Journal of Baroque Studies, 1(3), 189-191.]
Publications
*''Discovering the Fortifications of the Order of St. John in Malta'' (1988) Said International, 184 pp.
*''The Knights' Fortifications: An Illustrated Guide of the Fortifications Built by the Knights of St. John in Malta'' (1989, 1990) Published by the author, 240 pp.
*''The British Fortifications: An Illustrated Guide to the British Fortifications in Malta'' (1991) Published by the author, 247 pp.
*''Fortresses of the Cross: Hospitaller Military Architecture (1136–1798)'' (1994) Heritage Interpretation Services, 674 pp.
*''British Military Architecture in Malta'' (1996) Published by the author, 561 pp. URL https://books.google.com/books?id=E7PfAQAACAAJ&dq. .
*''The Fougasse, The Stone Mortar of Malta'' (1999)
*''Fortresses of the Knights'' (2001) BDL Publications, 382 pp. URL https://books.google.com/books?id=FiPrAAAAMAAJ&q. .
*''Armoury of the Knights'' (2003)
*''The Great Siege'' (2005)
*''The Art of Fortress Building in Hospitaller Malta'' (2008) BDL Publications, 597 pp.
*''A Visual Guide to the Fortifications of Malta'' (2017) BDL Publications, 224 pp. .
*
Further reading
Memories of a forgotten village - Petra Caruana Dingli
*
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spiteri, Stephen C.
1963 births
Living people
Maltese military historians
Historical preservationists
Academic staff of the University of Malta
Maltese curators
University of Malta alumni