Lascaris War Rooms

Useful Information

Location:	Lascaris Ditch, VLT 2000, Valletta, Malta. (35.8948844, 14.5127824)
Open:	All year Mon-Sat 10-16:30, last entry 16. [2024]
Fee:	Adults EUR 14, Children (5-15) EUR 7, Seniors EUR 12, Family (2+3) EUR 28. [2024]
Classification:	World War II Bunker
Light:	Incandescent Electric Light System
Dimension:
Guided tours:	self guided, D=1 h.
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography:
Address:	Lascaris War Rooms, Lascaris Ditch Valletta, VLT 2000, Tel: +356-2123-4717. Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna 2022, Tel: +356-21-800-992. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

JUL-1943	used by General Eisenhower and his Supreme Commanders Admiral Cunningham, Field Marshal Montgomery and Air Marshal Tedder as their advance Allied HQ for Operation Husky – the Invasion of Sicily.
1945	becomes the Mediterranean Fleet HQ.
1956	command center used during the Anglo-French invasion of Egypt during the Suez Crisis.
1962	during the Cuban Missile Crisis in full alert for a number of days.
1967	taken over by NATO to be used as a strategic Communication Centre for the interception of Soviet submarines in the Mediterranean Sea.
1977	finally closed down.
1992	leased to a private venture, refurbished and opened to the public.
2009	restoration by the Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna.
2019	Lascaris War Rooms opened to the public.

Description

Lascaris War Rooms are dubbed Malta's best-kept WW2 Secret. Unlike the air raid shelters, which were for the safety of the population, these rooms were intended for the military and the government. The first bunker is called War H.Q. Tunnels and was built in 1940 to accommodate the Combined War Headquarters of all three services underground to protect it from aerial attack. In 1943 the war headquarters migrated to the Lascaris War Rooms. After World War II it became the Mediterranean Fleet HQ. In 1967, it was taken over by the NATO to be used as a strategic Communication Centre for the interception of Soviet submarines in the Mediterranean Sea. Ten years later in 1977 it was abandoned, two years before the British army left Malta. The tunnels were unused for 15 years, but in 1992 the complex was leased to a private venture, it was refurbished, and opened to the public. We actually have no idea what it was used for, there are not many possibilities, probably some kind of bar. The site was closed down in 2005 and aquired by the Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna and the Malta Heritage Trust in 2009. They were renovated and opened to the public as part of the Malta at War Museum. This museum has an above-ground exhibition and offers three underground tours, the tunnels below the museum, the Lascaris War Rooms and the War H.Q. Tunnels.

The most important event of this site was obviously Operation Husky, the Invasion of Sicily in 1943. It was used by General Eisenhower and his Supreme Commanders Admiral Cunningham, Field Marshal Montgomery and Air Marshal Tedder as their advance Allied HQ. On the 75th anniversary, a new large-scale and permanent museum exhibition was created about this event. The exhibition explains the strategic role of Sicily, the last stages of the Desert War in late 1942 and early 1943, and the Casablanca Conference. It explains one of history’s largest amphibious operations ever and the starting point of the liberation of Europe from Nazi occupation.