Restored 19th‑century artillery magazine and geological centre within Gibraltar’s Flat Bastion.
Flat Bastion Magazine is a 19th-century artillery magazine within Gibraltar’s Flat Bastion, projecting from the Charles V Wall at the former southern limit of the city. Built on scree breccia over limestone, it stored about 5,000 barrels of gunpowder. Abandoned for years, it was restored and converted into a geological research facility.
Flat Bastion Magazine is a 19th-century artillery magazine in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. It lies in the eastern portion of the Flat Bastion, one of the fortifications of Gibraltar, which projects southward from the 16th-century Charles V Wall and formed part of the defences of the city’s former southern limit. Flat Bastion Road traverses the bastion along the west side of the magazine; south of the bastion and its magazine the road becomes Gardiner’s Road. The current British magazine dates back to at least 1873, based on the date on a keystone over one doorway. It was constructed primarily of locally quarried limestone blocks on scree breccia with underlying limestone bedrock, on relatively flat ground produced by quaternary wave-cut platforms. Built in wartime, it was designed to store approximately 5,000 barrels of gunpowder, with the main storage described as “a room within a room” surrounded by a narrow hallway. Many original wooden supports remain. After years of abandonment and an initial plan by the Government of Gibraltar to develop it for parking, geology enthusiast Freddie Gomez and a colleague restored the building. It now serves as a geological research facility and exhibition centre.
