It is hard to conceive that on just a surface area of 316 square kilometres, the sheer concentration of majestic fortifications in Malta span some 60km of ramparts – nearly half in the Grand Harbour alone.

This military defence architecture, testament to the geopolitical crucible Malta represented throughout so many centuries of its history, is today the site of the ambitious Malta International Contemporary Arts Centre (MICAS).

400 years since their construction, the ramparts and casemates at the La Vittoria bastion in Floriana today host no longer soldiers, but the semaphoric installation of British contemporary artist Conrad Shawcross, Beacons – three counter-rotating optic discs mounted atop 7.5m-high stainless and galvanised steel masts, powered by the light of the sun and sky, like a stained-glass window, where the light filters through a pattern of hundreds of thousands of non-repeating holes. The colours of the maritime flags’ semaphoric code spell out the word ‘NOW’, heralding MICAS’s imminent opening.

By giving the public access to this counterguard in one of the Knights-era fortifications of the Floriana lines, visitors are now set to experience the unique sense of place and continuity with the past that MICAS will unlock.

With so many of these areas previously used for government offices or semi-industrial uses, MICAS today joins an impressive roll-call of Maltese and Gozitan fortifications that have been repurposed towards social and educational uses – and here’s our pick of some top destinations, starting of course, with MICAS.

MICAS, San Salvatore Counterguard, Ritirata and La Vittoria Bastion

By the early 17^th century, some fifty years after Malta’s invasion by the marauding Ottoman armada during the Great Siege of 1565, the fortifications along the Marsamxett Harbour were still not strong enough to resist a large attack from advanced artillery.

In 1634, a military engineer sent by Pope Urban VIII was tasked with examining the island’s defences: Pietro Floriani proposed a second line of fortifications around Valletta’s land front, the construction of which would lead to the Ritirata and the creation of the San Salvatore counterguard, next to the La Vittoria Bastion.

Decades later, more additions were added, with a faussebraye – a defensive wall outside the main walls of the fortification – being constructed by the 1680s. Today this defensive wall contains the Sa Maison gardens.

Throughout the 1700s, the same area now housing MICAS became the first state-run institution for the elderly in the 1700s – the Ospizio – before reverting it its military purposed for British troops as Army Ordinance stores till the 1960s.

Fort Madliena

Fort Madalena, also known as Fort Madliena, is a British-era polygonal fort in the limits of Swieqi, built between 1878 and 1880 by the British as part of the Victoria Lines. Today the fort falls under the responsibility of the Armed Forces of Malta but is used by the St John Rescue Corps, a volunteer civil defence organization, and is used as their headquarters and training school.

The fort’s guns were removed during the interwar period, but it was used by the Royal Air Force as a radar station during World War II, and later by NATO until British forces left Malta in 1979.

Fort Ricasoli

Fort Ricasoli was finally declared complete and armed in 1698, part of the Knights’ effort to repel any Ottoman attack in the wake of the fall of Candia (present-day Heraklion) in 1669. The Florentine knight Fra Giovanni Francesco Ricasoli donated 20,000 scudi to construct the fort, and it was named in his honour.

During the French invasion of Malta in June 1798, the fort repelled three French attacks before surrendering after the capitulation to  Napoleon.

Today, the fort remains mostly intact, used as a filming location. Most of the fort is leased to the Malta Film Commission, and it has been used extensively to house huge within its walls for the films Cutthroat Island (1995), Gladiator (2000), Troy (2004), Agora (2009), and Napoleon (2023). In these films, the fort stood in as Port Royal, Rome, Troy, Alexandria, and Toulon respectively.

The fort was also used in the filming of Assassin’s Creed (2016) and Entebbe (2018). The first season of HBO’s adaptation of George R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones used various parts of the fort to represent the Red Keep.

Fort St Angelo

Lying on the site of the medieval Castrum Maris castle, the Order of Saint John built this bastioned fort between the 1530s and the 1560s, and is best known for its role as the Order’s headquarters during the Great Siege of Malta of 1565.

The fort was garrisoned by the British from 1800 to 1979, at times being classified as a ‘stone frigate’ known as HMS Egmont or later HMS St Angelo.

Today the fort is leased to the successors of the original Knights, the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, and is a major visitor attraction.

Fort St Elmo

Another favourite for film buffs, Fort St Elmo has been used as the location of the Turkish prison in Midnight Express (1978) and World War Z (2013).

Fort St Elmo, a star fort, has been in used since the early 15th century, being located at the tip of the Sciberras peninsula, the landmass upon which Valletta was built.

In 1565, Fort St Elmo was the scene of some of the most intense fighting of the Great Siege, withstanding massive bombardment from Ottoman cannons.

Today the fort houses the popular National War Museum, which contains military equipment and other things related to World War I and II.

The fort also houses Malta’s police academy, but is used for the In Guardia and Alarme military reenactments.