Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna

29/10/2026

New Book Release - Discover a forgotten marvel of Victorian military engineering by Mario Farrugia

In his latest book, Charles T. Guthrie’s Rolling Bridge, 1862, military history author and researcher Mario Farrugia uncovers the fascinating history of one of the British Empire's most successful—yet overlooked—military engineering innovations.

Between 1870 and 1945, most forts across Britain, Malta, and the Empire were secured by the Guthrie rolling bridge. Unlike traditional drawbridges, this ingenious iron structure used heavy counterweighted cantilever arms to roll entirely inside the fort gates, leaving attackers stranded at the ditch.

Author Mario Farrugia’s journey with the bridge began in 1991 during the clearance of Fort Rinella’s dry ditch in Kalkara. Spotting its original anchor points beneath decades of debris, he embarked on a long research quest to find out more about it. That dedication culminated in late 2025, when Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna (The Malta Heritage Trust) successfully reconstructed and inaugurated the world's only working example of a Guthrie bridge at Fort Rinella!

What’s inside the book:
* The man behind the machine: The first-ever biography of the English inventor Charles T. Guthrie, featuring hitherto unpublished portraits of him.
*Complete history of the bridge: An exhaustive history packed with previously unpublished plans, original record drawings, and the location of all the Guthrie bridge once in use across Malta's fortifications.
* Bringing history back to life: A fully illustrated archive documenting the incredible 2024–2025 reconstruction process at Fort Rinella, alongside a mini-history of the fort and its famous Armstrong 100-ton gun.

Beautifully presented in a full-colour, 120-page A4 landscape format complete with a large folding plan of the Guthrie bridge, this book is an absolute must-read for students of Maltese history, enthusiasts of military architecture, Victorian engineering, and industrial heritage.

This book is published by Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna. Cover price €19.

On sale at all FWA museums – Saluting Battery, Malta Time-gun Museum, Lascaris War Rooms (all in Valletta), Malta at War Museum (Birgu), Fort Rinella (Kalkara) and the Pirates & Corsairs Museum at St. Thomas Tower (M’Scala).

Also on sale at the FWA Book Stand at the upcoming Malta Book Festival.

🛒 Get your copy today https://www.wirtartna.org/product-page/charles-t-guthrie-s-rolling-bridge-1862

26/10/2026

Its is with great sadness to announce the passing of former Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna volunteer and employee Steve Bridgeman who lived in Kalkara.

Steve was one of the first full-time keepers at the Saluting Battery in Valletta, a job he enjoyed very much and to which he had contributed greatly.

Steve Bridgeman joined the Royal Navy very young reaching the rank of Petty Officer. While serving on a nuclear submarine he was awarded the MBE for being instrumental in tackling a serious fire that broke on board thus saving the ship and avoiding a potentially serious disaster. Later in life he had summed up this story in a book 'My Bloody Efforts' - Life as a rating in the modern Royal Navy.

Despite moving on to work in the aviation industry Steve remained genuinely interested in FWA's work and never lost a chance to support it. He also donated his naval uniforms and kit to FWA which incidentally are included for display in an upcoming exhibition on the Cold War.

Our sympathy goes to his wife Anna and family.

He is gone but we will not forget him.

May he rest in peace.

22/10/2026

GOOD NEWS: The Malta Tourism Authority (MTA) has awarded Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna a Quality Assured Seal to its Malta at War Museum at Couvre Porte, Birgu. The MTA Quality Assured Seal is a certification program that recognizes tourism attractions and venues in Malta and Gozo for upholding high standards in service, professionalism, and consistency. Started for restaurants in 2008 it was extended for museums, historic sites, parks, and cultural centres in 2010.

The Quality Assured seal is awarded following regular audits and evaluations administered by the MTA’s Licensing & Quality Assurance Department. It is valid for a two-year period, after which businesses undergo a renewal audit.

The award was presented to Mario Farrugia, FWA Founding Chairman by Dr Charles Mangion, MTA Chairman in the presence of Ivan Cassar, Manager Quality Assurance and Gabriel Micallef, FWA's COO at the Malta at War Museum, Birgu.

Other QA seals were awarded to other FWA museums and heritage sites. More on this later.

Photo acknowledgement: MTA

21/10/2026

DONATION: UK national Peter Smith has very kindly donated to FWA two HMS Hurworth ship crests in memory of his father Petty Officer William Smith who served on the ship. HMS Hurworth was a Second World War Type II Hunt-class es**rt destroyer of the British Royal Navy. She spent most of her career in the Mediterranean. She was lost to a mine in the Aegean Sea in 1943.

Mr Smith presented the two ship crests to Mario Farrugia, FWA's Founding Chairman at the Saluting Battery in Valletta. One of the donated crests will also be placed on display at the Malta at War Museum.

For similar donations please contact: [email protected]

19/10/2026

https://www.facebook.com/reel/2213756706189109

17/10/2026

This morning at the Saluting Battery in Valletta and the Grand Harbour.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/2569331156878744

16/10/2026

All is set for the Rolex Middle Sea Race 2026 at the Saluting Battery in Valletta, where the starting guns will be fired.

Organised by the Royal Malta Yacht Club, the famous offshore course spans approximately 606 nautical miles and is sailed anti-clockwise. Beginning in the centre of Grand Harbour, Valletta, the start line stretches from the Saluting Battery—just beneath the Upper Barrakka Gardens—across to Fort St. Angelo in Birgu.

On leaving Malta, the fleet heads north to Capo Passero on the eastern seaboard of Sicily, and then up towards the Strait of Messina. The active volcano, Mount Etna, is often visible on the port side. The Strait is one of the most technically demanding parts of the course, with crews keen to encounter both favorable currents and winds to ensure a straightforward passage.

Once through, the yachts head north to the second active volcano on the route: Stromboli, one of the Aeolian Islands, which must be left to port. At the islet of Strombolicchio, the fleet turns west to pass along the northern coast of Sicily toward the Egadi Islands. Leaving the Egadi Islands (except Marettimo) to port, crews head south toward Lampedusa while keeping Pantelleria to port. From Lampedusa, the course cuts north-east to the South Comino Channel before the final leg to the finish line at the entrance to Marsamxett Harbour.

A Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna gun crew has proudly fired the starting guns for this prestigious race from the Saluting Battery since 2009.

Tomorrow - Saturday - the Saluting Battery will be regularily open to the public except for a section of it that will be reserved to RMYC members and guests.

15/10/2026

BREAKING NEWS: Two significant and precious original artefacts from the wartime SS. OHIO fast tanker that saved Malta during Operation Pedestal in the Second World War were repatriated to Malta by Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna - the Malta Heritage Trust. They are being placed on display at the Malta at War Museum, Couvre Porte, Birgu. More details to be published later. stay tuned.

13/10/2026

Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna (FWA) welcomes the excellent news that the historic British-era barracks at Fort Chambray in Gozo are to be preserved.

FWA had formally appealed for the protection of these important historic buildings through the planning process and had publicly and strongly condemned earlier proposals for their demolition or mutilation.

The Foundation congratulates all the NGOs, concerned citizens and private individuals who have campaigned tirelessly to save these historic barracks. Their determination and perseverance have demonstrated once again the importance of public vigilance and collective action in safeguarding our national heritage.

FWA sincerely hopes that the authorities will draw the necessary lessons from this case. Applications proposing the demolition, destruction or unsympathetic alteration of historic buildings and monuments should be rejected outright, rather than being allowed to threaten our architectural heritage in the first place.

Malta and Gozo have already lost far too much of their irreplaceable heritage through decades of poor planning decisions, greed, neglect and ignorance. Every historic building that disappears represents a permanent loss to our national identity, collective memory and cultural landscape.

We simply cannot afford to continue losing what little remains of our architectural and historical inheritance.

The preservation of Fort Chambray’s barracks must not remain an isolated victory. It should mark a turning point towards a more responsible, consistent and uncompromising approach to the protection of Malta and Gozo’s historic environment.

Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna
The Malta Heritage Trust

The Planning Authority controversially approved plans for demolition in 2024, but fierce protests continued

12/10/2026

GIBRALTAR TV INTERVIEW: Mario Farrugia, Chairman of Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna — the Malta Heritage Trust — was interviewed by Gibraltar TV journalist Jose Mari Ruiz on the common historical and heritage links between Malta and Gibraltar. The interview took place at the Saluting Battery, where the firing of the noonday gun was filmed. Later, the TV crew visited Fort Rinella in Kalkara to film the fort and its Armstrong 100-ton gun. Notably, the world's only surviving 100-ton guns are located exclusively in Malta and Gibraltar, preserved at Fort Rinella and the Napier of Magdala Battery respectively.

View the interview here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1bZCGM9p-c