St. Agatha's Tower ( the Red Tower )
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This Tower is situated on the crest of Marfa Ridge. A shallow alcove within the Tower housed a chapel dedicated to St Agatha. It is also known as the Red Tower due to the colour it was painted and this colour has been retained on restoration. It was completed in 1649 during the Grand Mastership of Jean Paul Lascaris Castellar.
This Tower was one of the main defensive positions during the time of the Knights and was equipped with cannon and a garrison of 30 men and supplied with enough food and ammunition to withstand a siege of 40 days. The entrance to the Tower is approached by a flight of steps originally separated from the door by a drawbridge. It is square in plan with four corner towers rising from the base.
The outer walls are about four metres thick through which small windows were cut. A low star-shaped entrenchment serving as a gun platform built in the rear flanks of the Tower is an eighteenth century addition. During the British period it was used for defence purposes and was manned during both World wars.
In recent times it was equipped as a radar station by the Armed Forces of Malta. Restoration, sponsored by Toly Products, Demajo Group of Companies and Playmobil, commenced in 1999 and completed in 2001. One turret was missing and another turret severely damaged and its walls and roof were rebuilt and eroded stone replaced.
The interior walls were scraped and painted and the original floor was uncovered. Due to the extreme unevenness of the floor, this was recently covered by a wooden surface with glass apertures through which one can view the original slabs. An interior wooden spiral staircase was also constructed replacing a stone staircase which led to the flat roof and which had been removed. From the roof there is a most magnificent all round view of Malta and Gozo.
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