Siege celebrations

EVENTS to mark the 450th anniversary of the Great Siege of Malta are being planned by the island’s arts council and Heritage Malta.

The siege began in May 1565, when the island – then occupied by Order of the Knights of St John – was attacked by the Ottoman Empire. The siege was the climax of an escalating contest between a Christian alliance and the Islamic Ottoman Empire for control of the Mediterranean, The knights, with 400 Maltese men, women and children and 2,000 soldiers, broke the siege in the September of that year.

Anniversary events will begin on May 17 with Dawn of the Great Siege – Life at Sea at the Malta Maritime Museum, feature tours, exhibitions, and lectures.

Between June 26 and 29, there will be an interactive performance in Fort St Elmo. It’s called 1565 – First and Last Hope, and some of Malta’s best-known actors will be taking part.

Other events include an international exhibition at the Grand Master’s Palace, Valletta, from September 4 to December 6, which will include artefacts surviving from the siege.

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Picture Credit: Great Siege monument Valletta Maltaby © Marie-Lan Nguyen / Wikimedia Commons, GrandMastersPalace-Malta by Plamen Agov • studiolemontree.com. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons