Machicolation

Machicolation
Machicolation
Mâchicoulis, Piombatoio
	A box-machicolation of the Tal-Wejter Tower, in Birkirkara, Malta
General information
Location	Europe, Middle East and North Africa
Technical details
Material	Stone, sometimes wood

A machicolation (French: mâchicoulis) is a floor opening between the supporting corbels of a battlement, through which stones or other material, such as boiling water, hot sand, quicklime^[2] or boiling cooking oil, could be dropped on attackers at the base of a defensive wall.^[3] A smaller version found on smaller structures is called a box-machicolation.

^ Darke, Diana (2020). Stealing from the Saracens: How Islamic Architecture Shaped Europe. Oxford University Press. p. 265. ISBN 9781787383050.
^ Medieval castle SIEGES in depth
^ Jaccarini, C. J. (2002). "Il-Muxrabija: Wirt l-Izlam fil-Gzejjer Maltin" (PDF). L-Imnara (in Maltese). 7 (1). Ghaqda Maltija tal-Folklor: 17–22.

[1] Darke, Diana (2020). Stealing from the Saracens: How Islamic Architecture Shaped Europe. Oxford University Press. p. 265. ISBN 9781787383050.

[2] Medieval castle SIEGES in depth

[3] Jaccarini, C. J. (2002). "Il-Muxrabija: Wirt l-Izlam fil-Gzejjer Maltin" (PDF). L-Imnara (in Maltese). 7 (1). Ghaqda Maltija tal-Folklor: 17–22.

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