Noon Day Cannon Firing Saluting Battery, Valletta, Malta
Firing Breach Loader Smooth Bore Cannon
2 views from the Upper Barrakka Viewing Terrace l
- The firing of the Noon Day Cannon, also fired at 4PM, 16:00 hours daily except Sunday, is one of Valletta's Top Attractions.
- The cannon used is one of the 8 replica Smooth-bore Breech Loading 32-pounder cannons for its noon and 4 pm gun firings. The original 19th-century cannons are museum pieces & too valuable to be used for these demonstrations
- Great viewing of the firing can be done from the viewing terrace of the Upper Barrakka Gardens for Free
- Or for a small fee you can watch from very close on the Saluting Battery & listen to the interesting talk by the paid guides of the Malta Heritage Trust dressed in Uniforms of the age of Cannon.
- The Cannon now used on the The Saluting Battery in Valletta are Smooth-bore Breech Loading, 32-pounder cannon.
- These are replica guns that were installed in 2011 to replacethe older, original 19th-century Muzzle loading cannons.
The daily noon-day gun fire is a popular tourist attraction, and the battery also fires salutes on special occasions.
- If you have paid to be on the Gun Saluting Battery for the firing of the Noon-day Gunyou will obtain a much closer view of this excellent spectacular & hear the Guides who fire the canno, explain how the cannons work, the charge that they use, how the cannons are first checked then loaded and fired.
- A small amount of sawdust is added to the gunpowder, this makes for a more spectacular firing, adding more flame and more smoke.
- You will also learn how water is used in cannon firing
Tour of the Original Underground War Tunnels
- These are the original War Tunnels used at the start of World War II and located under the saluting Battery & Upper Barrakka Gardens. With there entrance in the arches of the Saluting Battery.
- Originally built& by the Knights of Malta in the late 1560s and extended by the British;
- It is a vast complex of 35,000 square feet of tunnels & rooms used as the Combined Headquarters for Britain's three fighting forces from 1940 to 1943
- The more famous Lascaris War Rooms were started to be built in 1940 and began operating in 1943
- For full information on the Lascaris War Rooms