(later the Admiralty Naval Bakery – now the Maritime Museum)

It is known that a slipway or an arsenal for the building and repair of ships has existed in a ditch between the Castle and Borgo since 1374. In 1501 a bigger and stone-cut arsenal was constructed along Borgo’s Marina – probably one of the four which the Order found in Malta upon its arrival, and the one it upgraded to the highest standards in the Mediterranean. This was maintained by the Order until it left Malta in 1798.

The first arsenal at Birgu was built on the site of a demolished church believed to be dedicated to St Angelo (possibly the Church of the Holy Angel in the Castro Exteriore that is referred to in the 1274 Angevin document). The Arsenal had three gabled arches and a wooden gabled roof which was dismantled in 1667.

In the 18th Century, the Birgu Arsenal was an imposing building with barrel-vaulted ceilings and three arches on its façade. These were decorated with armorial shields, statues, and balustrades. This massive building with its three intercommunicating compartments was suitable for the simultaneous construction of three galley hulls. The arches, that went over the three slipways leading into the water. were flanked by a security gate on either side.

The Birgu Arsenal was entrusted with the building of galleys until it was demolished in 1842 and replaced by the Admiralty’s Naval Bakery. Erected between 1842 and 1845, the 100 metre-long building which included a 30 metre-high chimney was known as “the most splendid bakery in existence, designed by Admiralty Architect William Scamp”. The tall windows of the Bakery followed those of Windsor Castle while the sculptural massing broken skyline, robust towers, dome, crowned belfry, and arcaded porch are characteristically English and also feature in Kent’s Horse Guards Building in Whitehall.

The Bakery was the hub of the Victualling Yard and supplied the Royal Navy with its daily requirements of bread and biscuits. After World War II it was converted into offices and stores, as well as the Headquarters of the Admiralty Constabulary. It remained a naval establishment up until the closure of the British base in 1979.

This massive building dominating the wharf is now run as a Maritime Museum.