The Qrendi Cavalier Tower

The Cavalier tower in Qrendi formerly housed the captain (Kaptan Kavallier) of the Knights of the Order of St John of Jerusalem. It is one of Qrendi’s most prominent monuments and is unique in the Maltese Islands.

The tower is of an octagonal shape with four of its walls consisting of 12 feet 3 inches thickness whilst the other walls measure seven feet. The tower consists of three landings with the ground and first floors being connected via an internal stone spiral stairway. From this landing a doorway leads onto the roof of an adjoining outer room. Accessible to the rest of the floors is only through a trap door by means of a wooden ladder and offers better defense to the tower’s defenders.

Eight-drop balconies flank the respective sides on the tower’s roof, four of which being considerably larger than the others. From these balconies, it is believed that its defenders could throw boulders and hot oil down onto any unwelcome attackers.

The tower’s robust buttresses, design, wall thickness, barrel shaped and arched ceilings, all fashioned from huge refined stone blocks together with the great workmanship are clear indications of its age.

It is believed that the San Michele tower in Ostia, designed in 1560 and attributed to Michelangelo Buon-arroti, built by Nanni di Baccio Biglio between 1567 and 1570 could have easily influenced this towers design.

Adjacent to the tower, a number of rooms and animal manger were fashioned and constructed around a central courtyard providing a better defense and comfort to the tower’s inhabitants. An external stone stairway leads from close to a well within this central courtyard up to one of the room’s roofs, from which one can gain access into the towers first floor.

The rear of the cavalier tower showing the external access to the first floor

A beautiful stone floral patterned carving together with a number of window type openings adorns the outer walls of one of the rooms within this yard. The said floral carving is merely decorative and serves no particular purpose.

Two considerable sized arches support the ceiling within the animal manger, under which two small arches support a folder loft at a lower level. The mangers size and the considerable number of feeding troughs are clear indication that animal husbandry played within this community.

Regretfully no records exist on the date of the tower’s construction.