Either I’m not understanding what happened in 1565 or some books use a diagram of a reconstructed and expanded St. Elmo from after the Siege.

If I understand correctly, St. Elmo was a 4-pointed star fort with a ditch. Outside the ditch was a ravelin on the point sea-ward and towards Marsamxett and a cavalier sea-ward. There was were no other walls, except perhaps the added fortification on the Grand Harbour side. [So, the fort looks like this, right?](https://weaponsandwarfare.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/fdbff.jpg)

[It as not 5-pointed like this](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/St.Elmo.plan.jpg) and [all of these outer walls are the current version and were not there in 1565](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Saint_Elmo#/media/File:Fort_St._Elmo_map.png). Is that correct?

Thanks in advance.

2 comments

  1. st elmo was re constructed and enlarged post the 1565 siege, prior to the siege it was only a small fort at the tip of the peninsula not the fort you can see today, during the siege most of the fortress was destroyed during the bombardment, it is believed that only the chapel and and some of the ramparts remained,

    post the siege they rebuilt the fortress made it bigger and built the city of Valletta adjacent.

  2. Correct. You have to remember that St.Elmo was built in a rush, as the Ottaman Siege was anticipated. I think the ravelin was barely finished when the Ottoman ships appeared on the horizon.

    Your first image is correct. For a visual representation of how the fort looked in 1565, please check this video by Dr Stephen Spiteri. A great video, IMHO. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ia4rB1f7RhI

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