Comino tower open to visitors next weekend

The 1618 St Mary’s Tower on Comino will be packed with action during the Comino Fest taking place on August 19 and 20. The tower was built and financed by Grand Master Alof de Wignacourt through the sale of the brushwood on the island and from the profits made by the resettled farmers. Also referred to as the Comino Tower, it was part of a system of towers providing defence and communication between the Ċittadella in Gozo and Mdina in Malta, something the Maltese people had been asking for since 1418. The site chosen for the St Mary’s Tower was some 80 metres above sea level. Its design was square in plan with four corner turrets. The bulk is 12 metres high and stands on a plinth some eight metres high. A three-metre wide strip was laid along the top surface of the plinth to enable the defenders to move easily to any endangered point. The walls of the tower are about six metres thick and the four corner turrets are extended perpendicularly and crowned with a battlement top. It seems likely that during the British period the tower was used as an isolation hospital at some point, while the lower chamber was converted into a stable for animals. The St Mary’s Tower was used as...