Three Last Knights

Valletta, Malta

Fort Saint Elmo, located on the tip of Valletta, is a vast network of fortifications with a chequered history. It is best known for its role in the Great Siege of Malta in 1565. Thousands died in the siege, the number of fatalities was such that with the ditch packed with bodies from both sides, invaders simply had to walk over them to reach the ramparts.

There is the legend of the last remaining three knights who were killed in the medieval chapel which still stands at the fort’s entrance. Four hundred and fifty years later, Malta Design Week commemorated the fort’s re-opening to the public. The restored medieval chapel, and the story of the brave knights, as recounted by colleague Edward Said, inspired the choice of location and concept, and an installation was created that would illuminate the chapel with solemn candlelight.

Part installation, part product-design, the modular candleholder was built around the Maltese eight-pointed cross, drawn with cad-cam software and manufactured using five-axis CNC machinery, from solid beech wood and black-core MDF. It was laboriously assembled over a week, to be ceremoniously lit and extinguished each evening thanks to an old, borrowed ladder.

Visitors hushed as they entered the space and contemplated its magical glow paying homage to those heroic (k)nights in 1565.

Photos by Chris Briffa