The planned facelift of Mdina's bastions will receive another boost of €160,000 to repair a badly-damaged stretch of 30 metres.

The sum will be added to the €500,000 - 85 per cent of it coming from EU funds - already allocated to restore 25 metres of the fortifications, which will be strengthened with 26 metres of steel embedded in the foundations.

The Mdina bastions repair job will serve as a pilot project for the restoration, over the coming years, of other fortifications in Valletta, Mdina, Vittoriosa and the Cittadella in Victoria. A total of €36 million in EU funds have been allocated to this major initiative, Rural Affairs Minister George Pullicino said during a visit to the site in Mdina.

Only recently, excavation works in Mdina exposed part of a semi-circular mediaeval tower that had been buried under bastions built by the Order of the Knights of St John which reigned between 1530 and 1798.

The tower, dating to between the 14th and 15th centuries, lies directly beneath the Xara Palace Hotel and Council Square, north of the left flank of the de Homedes bastion.

Juan de Homedes was the 47th Grand Master of the Order in 1536-1553. The seven-year fortifications' project is focused on documenting the designated areas in each of the four localities. The work is in the hands of the Restoration Unit and historical research is being conducted by the Superintendent of Fortifications, Stephen Spiteri.

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