Fort Rinella is home to the world's largest muzzle-loading gun in history. The Armstrong 100-ton 17.72 inch Rifled Muzzle Loading gun fired a 1-ton explosive shell propelled by a gun powder charge weighing a quarter of a ton, with a range of 3 miles and the capability to pierce 21 inches of wrought iron ship armour.
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The 100-ton gun was so huge and heavy that it could not be traversed and loaded manually like other artillery. Instead, its inventor, Sir William George Armstrong of Newcastle had devised a steam-driven hydraulic set-up to achieve this involving hydraulically powered ammunition lifts, rammers and traversing system by which the gun could be swiftly loaded, trained onto target and fired in a mere 6 minutes!
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Fort Rinella was built by the British and after that, the Italian navy had obtained eight Armstrong 100-ton guns to arm a new breed of battleships - the Duilo Class. It was built along with Fort Cambridge on the Sliema side of the Grand Harbour between 1878 to 1886. Another two 100-ton gun batteries were built in Gibraltar for the same purpose. From the four 100-ton guns only that at Fort Rinella and that at Napier of Magdala Battery in Gibraltar remain.
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Fort Rinella has undergone extensive restoration over the years. It offers the best possible window into the life of the Victorian garrison with a state of the art museum gallery dedicated to the history of the British Victorian Army - the Soldiers of the Queen exhibition. The fort retains all its original features - bent-entry, dry-ditch, caponiers, defensible barracks, engine room, loading chambers and magazines, lift-shafts and of course the Armstrong 100-ton gun! And now there is also a fully working Guthrie-bridge - the only one of its type in the world!
FORT RINELLA
Saturday: 10.00 - 16:30
Last admission- 16:00
(Except on 24,25 and 31 Dec, 1 Jan, Good Friday and Easter)​
Fort Rinella, St Rocco Road (Now Triq il-kanun tal-mija), Kalkara, Malta
Members: FREE
Adult (16+ years old): €12
Child (5-15 years old): €7
Family (2 Adults + 3 U/16 yrs old): €28
Entrance Fees (incl. guided tour & audio-guide)
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Let our authentically dressed Victorian gunners show you round Fort Rinella while letting you privy to some of the astonishing stories
that had shaped this iconic landmark
CLICK TO SEE IN FULL SCREEN
Fire an original 19th century Martini-Henry rifle like a Victorian soldier!
The Martini–Henry is a .45 inch breech-loading single-shot rifle with a lever action that was used by the British Army between the 1870s and the 1890s as a front line weapon and until the 1920s by some colonial units. It first entered service in 1871, eventually replacing the Snider–Enfield, a muzzle-loader converted to the cartridge system.
