Balbani Battery (), also known as Bengħisa Battery () or Saint Catherine's Battery (), was an

artillery battery In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit or multiple systems of artillery, mortar systems, rocket artillery, multiple rocket launchers, surface-to-surface missiles, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, etc., so grouped to f ...

Birżebbuġa Birżebbuġa (; sometimes shortened to B'Buġa) is a seaside town in the Southern Region, Malta, Southern Region of Malta, close to Marsaxlokk. It is approximately from the capital Valletta, and has a population of 9,736 as of March 2014. The ...

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 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 ...

on commands by Grand Master

Manuel Pinto da Fonseca Manuel Pinto da Fonseca (also ''Emmanuel Pinto de Fonseca''; 24 May 1681 – 23 January 1773) was a Portuguese nobleman, the 68th Grand Master of the Order of Saint John, from 1741 until his death. He undertook many building projects, introd ...

and was completed in 1721. The battery was named for Cristoforo Balbani, who partially financed its construction. It was one of a series of coastal fortifications around the Maltese Islands. Balbani Battery was part of a chain of fortifications that defended Marsaxlokk Bay, which also included six other batteries, the large Saint Lucian Tower, two smaller

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 ...

, four redoubts and three entrenchments. The nearest fortifications to Balbani Battery were

Bengħisa Tower Bengħisa Tower (), originally known as ''Torre di Benissa'' and also referred to as the Red Tower (), was a small watchtower in Bengħisa, within the limits of Birżebbuġa, Malta. It was built in 1659 as the seventh of the De Redin towers The ...

to the south and Fresnoy Redoubt to the west. Construction of the battery cost 1,855 scudi. The mastermind of the battery was architect Burlemarch and at its completion it was armed with eight cannons. It had a pentagonal platform with a

blockhouse A blockhouse is a small fortification, usually consisting of one or more rooms with loopholes, allowing its defenders to fire in various directions. It is usually an isolated fort in the form of a single building, serving as a defensive stro ...

at the rear, which was also defended by a

redan Redan (a French language, French word for "projection", "salient") is a feature of fortifications. It is a work in a V-shaped Salients, re-entrants and pockets, salient angle towards an expected attack. It can be made from earthworks or other ...

. The battery was demolished, and its site is now occupied by part of the

Malta Freeport Malta Freeport ( Maltese: ''Il-Port Ħieles'') is an international port on the island of Malta with a trade volume of 3.06 million TEUs in 2015.

. The land where it was is still called ''Ta' Balbani'' for the battery.

References

Artillery battery fortifications in Malta Hospitaller fortifications in Malta Buildings and structures completed in 1721 Demolished buildings and structures in Malta Birżebbuġa Limestone buildings in Malta 18th-century fortifications 1721 establishments in Malta 18th Century military history of Malta {{Malta-stub