I rented a car and made my way to Zonqor, Malta to pick up the fabulous artist Marika with the goal of scouting Aħrax Tower.

When I was scouting with Jeni at Fort Campbell, I observed a nearby ruin of a tower, similar to Aħrax Tower but in a much more dilapidated state. I decided that it would be beneficial to take Marika to both towers in order for her to have a choice in location.

Ruins on a Hillside
Photography by Mark Magro
Copyright 2016. Wanted Media. All rights Reserved

Driving down the dirt road to the ruins of this tower, long past its prime made me wonder what it must have been like in its hey day, a moonlit night, lit be candles a man on a horse sending important message to this isolated tower.

Marika jumped out of the car can trotted to the ruins as an enthusiastic child exploring a area for the first time. The ruins were bare, with just rubble and a nearby structure with a collapsed roof. However, the area was in a striking location, in a peninsula overlooking the sea and the venerable St. Paul Island which housed a religious statue of St. Paul preaching the word.

As we observed the ruins, Marika loved the location but was limited to the location in which the two buildings were placed making it hard to paint in a good perspective. We decided to leave and make our way to Aħrax Tower, a place I had not been in person yet and had some doubts of its beauty to its history of a tower of the knights and then structurally altered into a British command post during the second world war.

We made our way to the northern tip of Malta, down a long stretch of road with campgrounds nearby. As the road bent into a small bay, accompanied by a small village, we see the tower, perched upon a old twisty road, closed off to public long ago.

The Illusive Tower
Photography by Mark Magro
Copyright 2016. Wanted Media. All rights Reserved

The structure was fantastic. The stones, aged and pouring with stories just waited to be discovered. As I made my way inside, I was greeted with the familiar smell and sight of desolation. Twisted metal, graffiti and narrow passages making way to hallways and windows overlooking the nearby island of Camino and Gozo. As I reached the roof, I realized its strategic importance in location as it was perfectly situation from a fort on Gozo and main church in Gozo. Amazing.

As the daylight dwindled, Markia, excited with the potential to paint this derlicate structure, called it a night and we made our way back to our home, eager for our next journey up to document, paint and explore the location further.
Mark M.