Barbicans and posterns : new fifteenth-century documentation on the Mdina land-front

Abstract

The main gate of Mdina is depicted in a number of sixteenth century maps, among others, the Gastaldi map (c. 1551), the Camocio map (c. 1562), an anonymous map (1565), and the Zündt map (1565), as protected outside the city walls by a bridge, a crenelated parapet flanking both sides, its bridge-head defended by a barbican consisting of two round towers; in the Zündt map the twin towers are linked by an interconnecting wall. Gian Francesco Abela, writing in the early 1600s, presumes without stating why, that this barbican was built by the Arabs. It was dismantled on the occasion of the 1551 corsair invasion, since it was then deemed to be more of a liability than an asset for the defence of the city.