Palace Bastion

This stands on the hill occupied by the Palace of the Grand Master, separated from the latter by a shallow ditch about 6 metres wide. The bastion is to the north of the Palace and is roughly 50 metres square. It rises  15 metres above the moat and dominates the surrounding ground to the west, north and east. Its east side was furnished with a vaulted battery whose field of fire, together with the ordnance on the platform of the bastion, covered Mandraki Harbour and the entire length of the north wall of the town. After 1480, to the west and north it was reinforced with raised embrasures. Access to the bastion is from the southwest, either from the Palace or from the Master's Gate behind Amboise Gate. A square tower at the northeast corner of the bastion is topped by the reconstruction of a round turret, dating from the early 20th century.

From the first, and due to the proximity of the Palace, besides its defensive function the bastion also served for rest and recreation. Towards the end of the Hospitaller period it contained the garden of the Grand Master and a number of exotic beasts. In 1889 a hospital was built there; it was pulled down by the Italian Administration and the interior of the bastion was again landscaped as a pleasure garden for the Palace. In medieval documents it appears as Boulevard Beauregard.

Throughout  its history the bastion suffered repeated damage mostly due to the instability of the clay substrate and the seismicity of the area. Large-scale restoration in 2004-2016 has consolidated the bastion which nowadays serves as a venue for large open-air events.