5/3/2023 0 Comments Valletta watchesThe property essentially retains its skyline and form from the 16th century, reflecting the natural topography of the peninsula however, this is vulnerable to development pressures resulting in the increase of building heights, which is not always consistent with the city’s historic profile. However, the Outstanding Universal Value of the property is vulnerable to impacts on its setting, form and fabric, deriving from the demands of a living city.ĭespite the succession of eventful interludes that Valletta has witnessed since the departure of the Knights, resulting in frequent changes of use of many of the buildings they left behind, Valletta has remained the administrative and commercial epicentre of the island and is today Malta’s capital. The massing and materials used during these later interventions have blended homogenously with the earlier fabric, simultaneously respecting the original urban form. In spite of some rebuilding projects during the 19th century and severe damage during World War II, a high proportion of the original monuments and the surrounding urban fabric has been preserved intact or carefully restored. It is of sufficient size and includes all elements necessary to express its Outstanding Universal Value. As a result, the perimeter of the city has remained largely unchanged since the departure of the Knights of St John, unencumbered by more recent development. ![]() ![]() The city is built on a narrow peninsula surrounded by water. Valletta is thus associated with the history of one of the greatest military and moral forces of modern Europe. These include the 16th century buildings relating to the founding of the Renaissance city, such as the cathedral of St John, the Palace of the Grand Master, the Auberge de Castile et Léon, the Auberge de Provence, the Auberge d’Italie, the Auberge d’Aragon and the Infirmary of the Order and the churches of Our Lady of Victory, St Catherine and il Gesù, as well as the improvements attributed to the military engineers and architects of the 18th century such as the Auberge de Bavière, the Church of the Shipwreck of St Paul, the Library and the Manoel Theatre.Ĭriterion (i): The city is pre-eminently an ideal creation of the late Renaissance with its uniform urban plan, inspired by neo-platonic principles, its fortified and bastioned walls modelled around the natural site and the voluntary implantation of great monuments in well-chosen locations.Ĭriterion (vi): The city is irrevocably affiliated with the history of the military and charitable Order of the Knights of St John of Jerusalem, which founded the city in 1566 and maintained it throughout two and a half centuries. The fabric of the city includes a compact ensemble of 320 monuments that encapsulate every aspect of the civil, religious, artistic and military functions of its illustrious founders. Since its creation, the city has witnessed a number of rebuilding projects, yet those have not compromised the harmony between the dramatic topography and the Hippodamian grid. The Knights of St John, aided by the most respected European military engineers of the 16th century, conceived and planned the city as a single, holistic creation of the late Renaissance, with a uniform grid plan within fortified and bastioned city walls. The Siege of Malta in 1565 captured the European imagination and mobilised the resources needed to create the new city of Valletta, founded soon after, in 1566. ![]() ![]() Malta’s capital Valletta is a fortified city located on a hilly peninsula between two of the finest natural harbours in the Mediterranean.
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