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The Lascaris War Rooms consist of an underground complex of tunnels and chambers that housed the War Headquarters from where the defence of Malta was conducted during the Second World War.

This secret complex contained operations rooms for each of the fighting services from where not only the air defence of Malta was coordinated,  but also some of the greatest battlesfought in the Mediterrean during the war. Lascaris was the advance Allied HQ from where General Eisenhower and his Supreme Commanders Admiral Cunningham, Field Marshal Montgomery and Air Marshal Tedder directed Operation Husky – the Invasion of Sicily in 1943. 

In the Post War years it became the Headquarters of the Royal Navy’s Mediterranean Fleet. Later, in the late 1960s, it was taken over by NATO to be used as a strategic Communication Centre.
In 2009, Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna - the Malta Heritage Trust - undertook the challenging task of restoring this historic complex.  As a result of this work visitors can explore and enjoy one of Malta’s best kept wartime secrets. 

The Lascaris War Rooms will be integrated into the Military Heritage Park.  The Park will cover some 500 years of Malta’s history linking Lascaris War Rooms, the NATO ComCen, St Peter and St Paul counter-guard, the Saluting Battery and the Garrison Chapel crypt. Work on this park is currently being undertaken by FWA.
The Lascaris War Rooms is twinned with RAF Northolt, Ruislip, Middlesex, UK. This RAF base is home to Building 27 a former ‘Z’ sector Operations Block. The Operations Block was the prototype of the ‘Dowding System,’ a method of communication allowing the command chain to communicate to intercept enemy aircraft, the first such system in the world. This building was restored to its original form by a group of volunteers assisted by the RAF and was schedule as a Grade II building along with a C-type hangar and a former Squadron Watch office. The hangar was used throughout the Second World War to house Churchill’s personal aircraft in which he flew to many important meetings of the Allied leaders.