Fort St. Angelo or as known in Maltese il-Fortizza Sant’ Anġlu was originally constructed during medieval times to protect the grand harbour. The castle there was known as Castrum Maris. Archaeological remains found on site also date back to the Roman and Byzantine era.
Fort St. Angelo (the Angel being St. Michael), was re-constructed by in the 1530s and served as their headquarters before the order built and moved to Valletta. In fact, grandmasters who reigned before Valletta was built were also initially interred in the Fort’s church before being later moved to St. John’s Co-cathedral.
A major reconstruction of the fort in 1690s resulted in the fort that we see today. The architect was Carlos de Grunenbergh.
During the British era Fort St Angelo was classified as a stone frigate and named HMS Egmont. Needless to say, it suffered heavy bombardment during WWII.
Nowadays the upper deck of the fort is used by the the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (The Knights of St. John) and the fort as a whole is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The Maltese segment of the Camino Maltés de Santiago de Compostela ends at Fort St. Angelo and one can obtain the final stamp for the Malta segment for one’s Credencial (Kredenzjal Camino Maltés) from the ticketing office of Heritage Malta at Fort St Angelo.
On 25th July 2023 the Government of Malta unveiled a Camino de Santiago de Compostela Hito gifted by the Government of Galicia at the entrance of Fort St Angelo, indicating 3,493km to Santiago de Compostela.