Stop 11 of 12
Taħt is-Sur
Under the wall
Free to hear. You have 3 of three free stops left, on any tours.
Guide to Taħt is-Sur
A small garden at the foot of the Citadella’s southern walls, whose name means “under the wall”. From here the bastioned front the Order built from 1599, after the Ottoman raid of 1551 emptied the island, shows its full height, and the emptying of the citadel after the sleeping law was repealed in 1637 makes sense.
Rebuilt after 1551
In 1551 an Ottoman fleet took the old citadel within days and carried almost the whole population of Gozo into slavery. The Order judged the medieval walls not worth repairing, and from 1599 rebuilt the southern side, the side an attacker could reach, as a bastioned front with angled faces and thick ramparts. The north side above the cliffs was largely left alone.
Why the citadel emptied
For nearly ninety years after 1551 the law required every Gozitan to be within the walls by nightfall. It was repealed in 1637, once the new defences made the town below safer and the population had outgrown the hill. The cathedral, the courts and the prison stayed; the houses did not, which is why so much of the Citadella is museum rather than town.
What to look at
- The join between bedrock and masonry at the base of the bastion
- The angled bastion faces, built so defenders could fire along the wall
- The cathedral’s roofline, with no dome on it — the dome is painted on the ceiling inside
Practical
- Terrain
- A steep descent from the ramparts to reach it, then a gentler slope into town.
- Shade
- The garden has trees and benches; the walls above have none.
Walk to stop 12 · Villa Rundle Gardens
Follow the street below the walls and turn down Capuchins Street to Republic Street. Villa Rundle Gardens are on the left; finish inside on the shaded paths.
About 9 min · 571 m
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