Historic Fort St Elmo chapel transformed into memorial for the war dead

In the respectful silence that pervades the Memorial building, an integral part of the National War Museum at Fort St Elmo, a solitary high-backed wooden pew invites contemplative remembrance of the dead. 

The site of the recently established memorial is a 1722 chapel that contains the remains of those knights who were slaughtered defending the fort in the Great Siege of 1565. The memorial is a quiet testament to a collective memory embodied in the hundreds of war medals, the Remembrance Book, Rolls of Honour, a copy of the illuminated scroll donated to Malta by US President F.D. Roosevelt, models of monuments and other items. 

The remembrance book records the names of around 7,000 servicemen and servicewomen and civilians who died in Malta or as a result of their connection to Malta during World War II.

Substituting for an altar, the remembrance book records the names of around 7,000 servicemen and servicewomen and civilians who died in Malta or as a result of their connection to Malta during World War II. The sombre roll call of the dead includes both Maltese and British Commonwealth and Empire civilians and servicemen, comprising the many who perished on the convoys. 

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