St. Mary's Tower is a fortification

Fortification

Fortifications are military constructions and buildings designed for defence in warfare and military bases. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs...

 on the island of Comino

Comino

Comino is an island of the Maltese archipelago between the islands of Malta and Gozo in the Mediterranean Sea, measuring in area. Named after the cumin seed that once flourished in the Maltese islands, Comino is noted for its tranquility and isolation. It has a permanent population of only four...

 in the Malta

Malta

Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...

 archipelago

Archipelago

An archipelago , sometimes called an island group, is a chain or cluster of islands. The word archipelago is derived from the Greek ἄρχι- – arkhi- and πέλαγος – pélagos through the Italian arcipelago...

. One can see it easily from the ferry that crosses from Malta to Gozo.

Origins

In 1618 the military engineer Vittorio Cassar designed the tower for Grand Master Alof de Wignacourt

Alof de Wignacourt

Fra' Alof de Wignacourt was the 54th Grand Master of the Order of Malta, from 1601 to 1622. He was of the langue of France. His reign was notable for the construction of a number of coastal fortifications , and of the aqueduct that brought water from the plateau above Rabat to Valletta...

 of the Knights of Malta

Knights Hospitaller

The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta , also known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta , Order of Malta or Knights of Malta, is a Roman Catholic lay religious order, traditionally of military, chivalrous, noble nature. It is the world's...

. Funds for its construction were raised primarily by means of the sale of Comino brushwood. Located roughly in the centre of the southern coast of the island, it formed part of a chain of defensive towers — the Wignacourt

Wignacourt towers

The Wignacourt towers are a series of fortifications on the island of Malta built by the Knights of Malta.The initial towers of this type were built under the auspices of Grand Master Fra Aloph de Wignacourt...

, Lascaris

Lascaris towers

Grand Master Juan de Lascaris-Castellar of the Knights of Malta commissioned five towers during the period 1637 - 1640. The locals refer to both the five Lascaris towers and the thirteen later de Redin towers as "de Redin towers"...

, and De Redin

De Redin towers

The De Redin Towers are a series of thirteen small fortified watch towers that Grand Master Martin de Redin of the Knights of Malta built on the island of Malta between the year 1658 and 1659...

 towers — installed at vantage points along the coastline of the Maltese Islands. St. Mary's Tower greatly improved communications between the islands of Malta and Gozo. The tower also stopped Turkish corsairs from using the island's creeks as a base from which to harry boats from Gozo. Batteries on the coast of Comino had a garrison of 130 men and housed eight 32-pounder and ten 24-pounder cannons, which dominated the North and South Comino Channels.

Design and layout

The tower is a large, square building with four corner turrets, and is located about 80 metres above sea level. The Tower itself is about 12 metres tall, with walls that are approximately 6 metres thick, and is raised on a platform and plinth that are approximately 8 meters high. During times of crisis its garrison numbered up to 60 soldiers. By 1791, its armament included two 12-pound iron cannon, one 10-pound bronze cannon, one 4-pound bronze cannon, and two 3-pound bronze cannon.

Later history

In the 17th century, Comino served as a place of imprisonment or exile for errant knights. Knights who were convicted of minor crimes were occasionally sentenced to the lonely and dangerous task of manning St. Mary's Tower.

During the French Blockade (1798–1800), St. Mary's Tower served as a prison for suspected spies. In the 1799 insurrection against the French, the insurgents transferred the tower's cannons to Malta to bombard the French positions inside Valetta.

In 1829 the British Military abandoned the tower. For several decades it was deemed to be property of the local civil authorities, and may have been used as an isolation hospital, or even as a wintering pen for farm animals. The tower again saw active service during both World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 and World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. Since 1982, the tower has been the property of the Armed Forces of Malta

Armed Forces of Malta

The Armed Forces of Malta is the name given to the combined armed services of Malta. The AFM is a brigade sized organisation consisting of a headquarters and three separate battalions, with minimal air and naval forces.- Headquarters, AFM :...

. It now serves as a lookout and staging post to guard against contraband

Contraband

The word contraband, reported in English since 1529, from Medieval French contrebande "a smuggling," denotes any item which, relating to its nature, is illegal to be possessed or sold....

 and the illegal hunting of migratory birds at sea.

St. Mary's Tower underwent extensive restoration between 2002 and 2004. Today, it remains the most notable structure on Comino, and provides a destination for tourists walking around the island.

St. Mary's Tower in popular culture

• The 2002 film, The Count of Monte Cristo
  The Count of Monte Cristo (2002 film)
  The Count of Monte Cristo is a 2002 adventure film directed by Kevin Reynolds. The film is the tenth adaptation of the book of the same name by Alexandre Dumas, père and stars Richard Harris, James Caviezel, Dagmara Dominczyk, Guy Pearce, and Luis Guzman...
  
  starring Jim Caviezel, used St Mary's Tower to represent the prison Château d'If
  Château d'If
  The Château d'If is a fortress located on the island of If, the smallest island in the Frioul Archipelago situated in the Mediterranean Sea about a mile offshore in the Bay of Marseille in southeastern France...
  
  .

External Sources

• Comino, the Comino Caves & St. Mary's Tower - Photos on UnitedCominoFerries.com