Walk up that majestic hill to Aħrax Tower with painter Marika Borg as she exposes the colours of history on canvas.
Forgotten Landscapes
Aħrax Tower is a costal watchtower overlooking Armier Bay in the outskirts of the Maltese village of Mellieħa and is the northernmost fortification in Malta.
It was constructed shortly after the Spanish knight Martin De Redin was elected Grand Master of the Order of St. John in 1658 and was the sixth in a series of watchtowers built to strengthen the costal defense system.
The physical design of the watchtowers and proximity to each other provided a line of sight across the island. From smoke and cannon to radar, the tower adapted with warfare across the oceans of time and its protection from invaders is an homage to the ingenuity of the Order of St. John.
After the Second World War, the tower became a British Governor’s summer residence and then was privately owned before it was abandoned.
Marika Borg was born and raised in Malta. She obtained a Masters in Arts at the International Correspondence School in Scranton Pennsylvania, United States of America and Diploma at the School of Arts in Valletta, Malta. She is skilled in capturing colours in her oil paintings.
-
Photography by Kristina Quintano & Mark Magro