In Grand Harbour there are roughly 25 kilometres of
bastion walls and the cost of restoring them temporarily
would work out at some Lm25 million.
"It is difficult to estimate how much the restoration
of the whole fort would cost because the building is
facing various problems. For one thing, one would have
to devise a means of shoring up against rough seas," Mr
Bonnici said.
Stephen Spiteri, superintendent of fortifications
who also served as a consultant, said this was more
of an emergency intervention than a restoration project.
"The bastion had been declared a dangerous structure
because it had quite substantial damage. Fort Ricasoli
is in extremely bad shape because it has been consumed
by the elements. The problems at Ricasoli are huge
but the fort has enabled us to understand what the
rest of the operation would involve.
"This has been a case study of what it would
take to properly restore such bastions. No such study
has been carried out before," Mr Spiteri said.
Mr Bonnici added that there was a natural fault in
the lay of the land that has allowed the sea to eat
into the rock under the fort.
The restoration of the whole of Fort Ricasoli would
need the contribution of various stakeholders including
the government, the private sector and the Malta Environment
and Planning Authority.
"We are talking of millions of liri," Mr
Bonnici said.
Fort Ricasoli formed part of Grand Master Nicholas
Cottoner's master plan designed by the Italian engineer
Antonio Maurizio Valeperga at the end of the 1600s
for the defence of Valletta against both landward attack
and bombardment from the sea.
The fort together with Fort St Elmo at the lower end
of Valletta and Fort Tignè guarding the entrance
of Marsamxett Harbour played a unique role in the defence
of Valletta.
Fort Ricasoli's role remained valid during the occupation
of Malta by the British until World War II in the early
1940s.
This is still evident from the structural additions
and gun placements on the seaward side of the fort.
Although this was not the case with Ricasoli, the casemates
in the bastions in urban areas such as the Cottonera
Lines, Santa Margerita and Floriana were used for social
housing. During the reign of the Knights of St John
there were various requests from people to be provided
with social housing.
"Every internal space was given out to poor families.
For example, the Cottonera Lines used to house about
400 families. One can imagine what kind of facilities
these families enjoyed. There was a clause in their
contract saying that, in case of war, they would be
evacuated without any form of compensation," Mr
Spiteri said.
Apart from the elements, Ricasoli has suffered from
the ravages of WWII. The gate has been re-built but
not the Governor's House, which used to house the armoury
and the captain's quarters.
International film companies currently use the piazza.
Mr Bonnici said the British had carried out an extensive
intervention on the walls of the fort by removing between
15cm to 20cm of the outer layer and cladding it with
a fresh layer of franka. With the passage of time,
however, this layer became detached from the wall and
collapsed.
"We had two options: One was to remove the part
added by the British, which would have involved departing
from reality and exposing the bastion as built by the
knights. The second option, the one that was decided
on, was to carefully remove and number individually
the franka slabs and hold them in place with the same
type of aggregate as used originally," Mr Bonnici
said.
Every slab was returned to its original place.
Stainless steel ties designed purposely for this type
of restoration were used to hold the slabs more securely
to the bastion.
The stonework that remained, dating back to the time
of the Knights of St John, was treated to eliminate
the salt content in the first layers of the stone and
consolidate it to restrain the erosion.
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