Wignacourt Arch

The Wignacourt Arch stands at the edge of Fleur-de-Lys, a suburb of Birkirkara, where it meets Santa Venera in Malta’s southern region. Built in 1615 as part of the Wignacourt Aqueduct, it once carried water from Dingli and Rabat to Valletta. The original arch was a Baroque structure with a large central arch and two smaller side arches, decorated with three fleurs-de-lys and Wignacourt’s coat of arms. Two marble plaques with Latin inscriptions marked its sides, one facing Santa Venera and the other Birkirkara. The area around the arch remained rural until the early 20th century, when a tram route passed nearby between 1905 and 1929. The arch was destroyed twice during the Second World War, first in 1943 when an RAF lorry struck it, and again in 1944 when an army truck finished the job. Its stones were removed and later lost, though the marble plaques were saved. A roundabout with a fountain replaced the site until plans for a replica began in 2012. The Birkirkara Local Council and Fleur-de-Lys Administrative Committee led the reconstruction, with the Bank of Valletta contributing €100,000. A dispute over the arch’s name between Birkirkara and Santa Venera councils was settled in 2014, and the replica was completed in 2015. Today’s visitors find a faithful reproduction of the original arch, standing where the aqueduct once crossed the old road from Valletta to Mdina. The new structure includes the same decorative elements: the three fleurs-de-lys, Wignacourt’s coat of arms, and the two marble plaques. The surrounding area has changed from rural fields to a suburban neighbourhood named after the arch’s heraldic symbols. A roundabout marks the spot where the original arch once stood, and the aqueduct’s surviving arches can still be seen nearby. The arch serves as a reminder of Malta’s 17th-century engineering and the wartime losses it suffered.