Military Engineer
The exact place and date of birth of Gerolamo Cassar are not known. Neither is the year of his death, but this must have occurred after 9 January 1589, when he is known to have made his second will. According to A.P. Vella he was born in Gudja, but other historians mention Birgu as his native place with a date around 1520.
Cassar was a versatile man of various talents. He was, first and foremost, a military engineer, and in 1560 Cassar took part in the Order’s campaign to capture the island of Djerba. He also took an active part in the Great Siege of 1565. He was responsible for the design of a war machine with the use of which it had been possible to destroy an enemy position.
As Capomastro of the Order, Cassar was the pupil of Evangelista Menga, the resident engineer of the Hospitallers between 1560-1567. Cassar succeeded Menga in that capacity and retained the post until 1592, combining the functions of engineer and architect.
Cassar was trained by a number of visiting military engineers but notably by Francesco Laparelli, whose assistant he was in the construction of the fortifications of Valletta and in the layout of its streets. Throughout the siege, at great personal risk, Cassar worked incessantly on the repairs of the fortifications protecting effectively the defenders from the continuous vicious Turkish assaults.
From a manuscript preserved at the National Archive of Lucca, Italy, discovered by Architect Michael Ellul, (in 2004), it was established definitely that Girolamo Cassar was actually in Italy for some time during 1568. In Lucca, Cassar studied the encircling walls, and he subsequently wrote a report titled Discorso sopra il fortificar la città di Lucca fatto da Girolamo Cassar Architetto della Religione di Malta, with a second section which bears the title Difetti del baluardo e cortine di Sta Maria detti dal medesimo Girolamo Cassar Architettto Maltese.
On 22 April 1569 Cassar was received into the Order as a donat in recognition of his various merits. The Grandmaster issued a passport in his favour, which was at the same time a certificate of service, enabled him to proceed to Italy where he acquired a number of renaissance and Mannerist techniques. His tour of the principal Italian cities was only of a few months’ duration, for his passport is dated 23 April 1569, and presumably he was back at the end of the year when Laparelli left Malta for good. By the time Cassar came back to Malta, the fortifications were nearing completion and he could turn his attention to the construction of the city proper.
Grandmaster La Cassiere praised Cassar for his work as engineer and architect to the Order and his citation mentions buildings designed by Cassar before 1681. After Laparelli left the island, Cassar was appointed chief military engineer and directed work on the fortifications of Valletta until his death.
It was also recorded in the citation that Cassar had designed and built the seven Auberges for the Knights of the various Languages, the Magistral Palace, and the Conventual Church of St John. He had also prepared designs for the churches of St Paul, Porto Salvo, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the Augustinians, and St Mary of Jesus. Finally, it was also emphasised that Cassar had designed with praiseworthy diligence all the buildings of Valletta, including the bakery, the mills and the house of the members of the Order and other private individuals. Cassar is also credited with the design of the old parish church of St Andrew, Luqa, the old church and convent of the Capuchin friars in Floriana, and the old church of The Saviour at Lija.
His wife Mattea survivied him by twenty-three years. They had two sons, Gio Vittorio and Gabriele, and three daughters Mariettina, Battestina, and Catarinella.
Cassar died in Valletta and was buried at the church of Porto Salvo. A monument to Gerolamo Cassar was unveiled in Valletta in December 2016.
This biography is part of the collection created by Michael Schiavone over a 30-year period. Read more about Schiavone and his initiative here.