The Silent Neglect of Cottonera

This album documents the interior of the Knights’ Warehouses at Dock 1, Cospicua - monumental structures originally built by the Order of St John as part of Cottonera’s maritime and logistical infrastructure, long before the British period and the construction of Dock 1 itself.

These warehouses were designed to serve the Knights’ naval operations and the Grand Harbour economy, later becoming integral to Malta’s dockyard system under British rule. Together, they form one of the most significant surviving ensembles of working heritage in the harbour area, deeply embedded in the social and industrial history of Cottonera.

In 2015, the American University of Malta (AUM) was announced by then Prime Minister Joseph Muscat as a flagship foreign investment and a major regeneration project for the south of Malta. As part of this project, the Dock 1 site, including the Knights’ Warehouses, was granted to the university.

Over the years, the 'Amercan' university project has failed to deliver on its original promises, with persistently low activity and several proposed development and extension plans rejected by the Planning Authority. Despite this, the government has continued to grant AUM control over additional land and spaces adjacent to the site. To date, only the British-era Dock 1 building has been restored and brought into use. The much older historically important Knights’ Warehouses remain largely unrestored and closed off.

The photographs in this album were taken in 2013. More than a decade later, nothing of substance has changed. The buildings continue to deteriorate in plain sight, with no clear plan publicly communicated for their restoration or reuse.

Most recently, it was reported in the news that the concession has been extended even further to include the stretch of sea directly in front of the site as well as the adjacent boatyard, reinforcing concerns about the incremental transfer of historically and publicly significant spaces into private control.

This album is intended to place on record what exists and what has been allowed to decay over time.

© The Silent Neglect of Cottonera. All photographs and text are protected by copyright. Reproduction or reuse without permission is not allowed.

Fort San Salvatore is a site of significant historical importance. Built in 1724 by the Knights of St John as a retrenched fort on the San Salvatore Bastion, part of the Cottonera Lines. Originally part of Kalkara, prior to later administrative boundary changes. The fort’s gate is still commonly known locally as the gate to Kalkara, reflecting its original association with the area. The fort also played a role during the Second World War. Between May and July 1940, a number of Maltese individuals suspected of supporting Italian irredentism - including Enrico Mizzi, who later became Prime Minister of Malta - were interned within the fort. During the 20th century, the fort was later granted for industrial use. Under a decision taken during the premiership of Dom Mintoff, the site was given to his brother, who went on to establish a concrete factory within the fort. This period of industrial activity caused severe damage to the fort’s historic fabric. Following the closure of the factory, the site was abandoned and left in a state of long-term neglect. The photographs in this album were taken between 2012 and 2013, documenting the condition of the fort decades after industrial use had ended. Recently, Prime Minister Robert Abela publicly pledged that the fort would be returned to the public.

This album presents a photographic record of San Salvatore Chapel, documenting its condition over a prolonged period of time.

The earliest images of this site were first shared online in 2013 within the public Facebook group Friends of Cottonera Forum, at a time when no official photographic documentation of the chapel was publicly available.

More than fifteen years later, and despite the continued deterioration of the site, no comparable photographic record has been published online by the competent national heritage authority.

These images are presented here as part of a long-term visual record of a historic structure that has remained largely undocumented in the public domain.