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 Saluting Battery in Valletta uses SBBL (Smooth-bore Breech Loading) 32-pounder guns. These are replica guns that were installed in 2011 to replace older, original 19th-century cannons. The daily noon-day gun fire is a popular tourist attraction, and the battery also fires salutes on special occasions.
Prior to 2011 the volunteers who fire the cannon will explain how the cannons work, the charge that they use, how the cannons are first checked then loaded and fired.
You can remain on the Gun Saluting Battery for the firing of the Noon-day Gun thus getting a much closer view of this excellent spectacular.
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