Dug deep into Malta's rocky core but just five minutes walk from Valletta are the Lascaris War Rooms.
This is a fascinating museum, especially to those interested in World War II, which was once the subterranean headquarters of the Allied Forces. The Lascaris War Rooms offer a really unique experience as they are one of only four World War II operation rooms in the world that are open to the public.
The series of seventeenth-century tunnels was named after French knight Jean Lascaris who became Grand Master from1636 to 1657. Today visitors can take a tour led by an expert with in-depth knowledge of the war rooms and the history of the period.
The carefully refurbished command rooms display diagrams, photographs and dioramas and visitors can see the actual rooms where allied commanders such as Eisenhower, Montgomery and others carried out strategies that led to the submarine attacks and first invasion of Axis occupied Europe.
An animated commentary (all crackling radios, Morse code bleeps and clicking typewriters) is available to replicate the conditions during which Operation Husky, the 1943 invasion of Sicily, was planned. Not particularly convincing wax dummies are dressed in relevant uniforms to help set the scene, perhaps more interesting are the plot table and wall map used in Husky and the squadron rooms.
The nature of the rooms' original use means that they are a little difficult to find (it has been pointed out that this is rather the whole point). However, if you keep your eyes peeled, they can be located just off Pjazza Kastilja past St. James' Bastion.
