Torri ta’ Lanzun : from farmhouse to Grand Chancellery of the Military & Hospitaller Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem

Abstract

In 1973, the Torri ta’ Lanzun was acquired by the Order of Saint Lazarus and formally opened by the then Grand Master of the Order, His Excellency Don Francisco de Borbón y Borbón, as the official Worldwide Headquarters of the Order of St Lazarus. The building is sited in the outskirts of the village of San Ġwann in the region known as Tal-Minsija [translated as ‘the forgotten’] in the island of Malta overlooking Wied Għomor between Għargħar and present-day St Julian’s. Situated about 1000 metres from the eastern coast of Malta leading to St. Julian’s Bay, the area is today a very urbanized locality with the Torri ta’ Lanzun being surrounded by a number of maisonettes and villas. It is, therefore, difficult to fully appreciate its original role as a protective farmhouse in the area in bygone days. In the fifteenth century, when Torri ta’ Lanzun was built, the geographical situation was significantly different from what it is today. The region, then known as Il-Ħofra ta’ Xagħret il-Għar [translated as ‘the cave opening’] was a completely isolated rural locality within the parish of Birkirkara inhabited only by local farmers who were subject to attacks from pirates who landed on the shore to replenish their food and water stores, and of course capture anyone whom they could sell into slavery.