Valletta - a living
S
hould Jean Parisot de la
Vallette awaken from his
500 year old slumber
and visit the city he
had proudly designed
and helped build, (but
unfortunately never managed to see),
he would surely do a double take and
frantically call his architects. The once
closed off fortress city now has wideopen gates, which hundreds of people
enter daily. Valletta was built as a
fortress, but it has become a living
work of art, changing with the times
and reinventing itself to keep up with
the ages. The beauty of it though, is
that the new did not eliminate the
old; it complements it in a way that
makes Valletta a truly unique capital,
a city where the Classic walks hand in
hand with the Modern.
Built by the Knights of St John
from scratch on an untarnished hill,
and designed as a defence from
future attacks (which thankfully
never happened), Valletta was an
impenetrable fortress city, with
enormous, broad bastions, and an
easily-closed off entrance in case
of invasion. Today, these bastions
still enclose the city, but the once-
10
imposing city gate has been replaced
with a cleaner, more modern entrance
– comprised of two columns which
lead immediately into Republic Street.
Entering Valletta is an experience
in itself; the awe-inspiring bastions
serve as a magnificent backdrop for
the hustle and bustle of city life, while
crossing the short bridge leading into
the heart of the city you will see all
kinds of people from all walks of life
– hurried office workers, lawyers,
shoppers, and tourists, to name but a
few. Past the entrance, Valletta opens
up into two sides, with two grandiose
staircases ascending onto opposite
sides of the bastions – one leading
to St James Cavalier and the other
to St John’s Cavalier and Hastings
Gardens.