Laying of Fort Manoel's Foundation

Date: September 14, 1723 • Location: Floriana, Malta

António Manoel de Vilhena, Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller, laid the first stone of Fort Manoel in Malta.

António Manoel de Vilhena was a Portuguese nobleman who was the 66th Prince and Grand Master of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem from 19 June 1722 to his death in 1736. Unlike a number of the other Grand Masters, he was benevolent and popular with the Maltese people. Vilhena is mostly remembered for the founding of Floriana, the construction of Fort Manoel and the Manoel Theatre, and the renovation of the city of Mdina.