FWA Condemns Fort Tigné Hotel Plans, Calls for Preservation and Public Park

Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna is seriously alarmed by the announcement made yesterday that the lease of Fort Tigne in Sliema is about to change hands between developers to be turned into a hotel.

This historic fort has been lying empty and in a state of abandonment for over a decade despite the initial effort made to restore it as part of Midi's planning obligations to develop Tigne Point. Putting it to a sustainable sympathetic use without impinging on its special historic and architectural merits was part of the original planning obligations of the project and remains a priority.

Although various historic forts around the world were successfully converted into hotels or short lets the limited indoor space and particular layout of this fort may militate against it being used in this way without adding to it new buildings which should be prevented. Its already a disgrace that its left glacis is occupied by a sea view restaurant when the hole fort should have been left unencumbered all round by such cheap development.

Built by the Hospitaller Order of St. John between 1793 and 1795 to guard the entrance into Marsamxett harbour, Fort Tigne represents the last major defensive work completed by the Order before its expulsion from Malta. Its architecture is representative of a period when star-shaped forts were evolving into pentagonal ones making it the only one of its kind in Malta which makes it both precious and one that ought to be preserved for posterity.

FWA points out that besides being a Schedule I monument, Fort Tigne, is also part of Malta's current bid for the Hospitaller Order's fortifications to be included in UNESCO's World Heritage List. One hopes that after all the years of hard work by all those involved this move will not derail the process.

FWA strongly recommends that Fort Tigne is returned back to the state to be used as a historic attraction while the whole open area around it is turned into parkland something which is sorely lacking in what is now a suffocatingly overbuilt Sliema similar to what was announced by government in connection with Manoel Island.