Malta
Valletta
The City of Valletta is an ideal Renaissance city founded by the Knights Order of St. John of Jerusalem.
The Order ruled from here from 1565 on for over two centuries and created a late Renaissance city within city walls to withstand the Turks. Hundreds of civil, religious and military monuments from the 16th century remain, as does the uniform urban plan.
Community Perspective: Valletta is an easy city to walk around, but it does have hills. Highlights include St John’s Co-Cathedral and the Upper Barakka Gardens, which overlook one of the greatest natural harbours of Europe. James recommends the recently opened underground tour of the tunnels that lie beneath the city.
Site Info
Official Information
- Full Name
- City of Valletta (ID: 131)
- Country
- Malta
- Status
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Inscribed 1980
Site history
History of Valletta
- 1980: Inscribed
- Inscribed
- WHS Type
- Cultural
- Criteria
- i
- vi
Links
- UNESCO
- whc.unesco.org
All Links
UNESCO.org
- whc.unesco.org — whc.unesco.org/
Related Resources
- heritagemalta.org — Heritage Malta
News Article
- Nov. 27, 2023 timesofmalta.com — Controversy over St John's Co-Cathedral extension works
- Dec. 5, 2015 maltatoday.com.mt — Valletta’s UNESCO status undermined by Tigné 40-storey hotel
- Oct. 10, 2015 timesofmalta.com — Expert seeks changes to St John’s Co-Cathedral Museum extension
- June 9, 2010 csmonitor.com — The picturesque capital of Valletta is getting a $122.4 million makeover that will radically alter the historic entrance to the World Heritage listed city
- Aug. 18, 2009 timesofmalta.com — Call for policies on high-rise buildings in Valetta
Community Information
- Community Category
- Urban landscape: Post-medieval European
Travel Information
Recent Connections
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Perfect Inscriptions
1980 -
Modern Board Games
Valletta (2017) -
Changing of the Guard ceremonies
"The Changing of the Guard Ceremony is …
Connections of Valletta
- Individual People
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Napoleon was here
June 12 1898 - stayed for 6 days on way to Egypt. Used Palazio Pariso in Merchants street as his HQ -
Caravaggio
"Saint Jerome Writing" in St. John's Co-Cathedral -
Mapped or Illustrated by Blaeu
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- Geography
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Located in a microstate
Malta (316km2 / 402000 inhabitants) -
Located in a Capital City
Valetta (Capital of Malta) -
Mediterranean shore
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- Trivia
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Fatal Accidents or 'disasters'
Carnival tragedy of 1823: a human crush which occurred on 11 February 1823 at the Convent of the Minori Osservanti in Valletta. About 110 boys who had gone to the convent to receive bread on the last day of carnival celebrations were killed after falling down a flight of steps while trying to get out of the convent.See en.wikipedia.org
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WHS within walking distance
Walk from Valetta or Paola -
Built or owned by French
Jean Parisot de Valette - The foundation stone of Valletta was laid by Grandmaster La Valette in the year 1566 (wiki)See en.wikipedia.org
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Built or owned by British
Various buildings/defense installations -
Modern Board Games
Valletta (2017)
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- History
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Knights Hospitaller
Finally kicked out of Rhodes in 1522 the Knights Hospitaller wandered Europe for 7 years looking for a home and were granted Malta in 1530 by Charles V of Spain as King of Sicily (They had to pay a Falcon annually - hence the "Maltese Falcon"!). Valetta itself was built after the Ottoman seige of 1565 was successfully resisted. -
Byzantine Empire and Civilization
ruled successively by the Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs and the Order of the Knights of St John (official description) -
Second World War
The British military forces in Valletta were besieged and repeatedly bombed by German and Italian forces from 1940-1942. Valletta's strategic location and harbor played a critical role in the Allied military campaigns against Germany and Italy in North Africa. -
Sieges and Battles
Turks 1565 -
The Crusades
Valletta owes its existence to the Knights of St John, who planned the city as a refuge to care for injured soldiers and pilgrims during the Crusades (cityofvalletta.org)
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- Architecture
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Baroque
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Renaissance
Several examples of Renaissance art and architecture, such as the hospital and the Auberge de Provence -
Star fort
Fort Saint ElmoSee en.wikipedia.org
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Carrara marble
St John Co-Cathedral tombstones -
Domes
Our Lady's of the Carmel Church -
Italian Architects outside Italy
Cathedral by Girolamo Cassar
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- Damaged
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Damaged in World War II
Opera House was destroyed
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- World Heritage Process
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Perfect Inscriptions
1980 -
Already inscribed still on T List
Fort St Elmo, as part of Knights Fortifications around the Harbours of Malta
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- Religion and Belief
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Beatified Persons
Blessed Nazju Falzon (Died 1865. Beatified May 2001) "will be best remembered...for his unstinting work among the British servicemen especially where the teaching of Catechism was concerned " Buried in in the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception in the Church of the Franciscan Minors, Mary of Jesus, Valletta. See -
Cathedrals
St Johns -
Marian Shrines
Church of Our Lady of Liesse -
Relics from John the Baptist
Relic of the arm in the cathedral -
Jesuit Order
Jesuit Church -
Christian Pilgrimage Sites
Saint Paul's Shipwreck Church
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- Human Activity
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Armouries
Grandmaster's Palace -
Frescoes or murals by famous painters
Valetta Cathedral by Mattia Preti -
Time Balls and Guns
Saluting Battery Barracca garden. Now only on Saturdays at noon.See www.timegun.org
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Festivals
Maltese Carnival -
Changing of the Guard ceremonies
"The Changing of the Guard Ceremony is held every last Friday of the month at St George's Square, Valletta."
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- Constructions
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Sites of Parliament
Grandmaster's Palace in Valletta is Malta Parliament -
Famous Bells
Perched above the Grand Harbour, the Siege Bell Memorial is a simple monument symbolising the plight of the many people who fought and died for Malta during the Second World War. It was built in 1992 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of when Malta received the George Cross for the display of bravery and valour shown during the attacks on the island from 1940-42. -
Elevators
Barakka Lift -
Hospitals
The Sacra Infermeria, Built late 16th C. also called Brand Hospital and Station Hospital. Ceased being a hospital in 1918 - now the Mediterranean Conference Centre.See en.wikipedia.org
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Astronomical clocks
The clock of the Grandmaster's Palace, installed in 1745, shows the hour, date, month, and lunar phase, and has bells struck by four jacquemarts (wiki) -
Tunnels
Valletta is heavily tunneled for drainage, defence and a railway. SeeSee dinlarthelwa.org
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Theatres and Opera Houses
The Manoel theatre is said to be Europe's 3rd oldest working example -
Walled cities
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- WHS on Other Lists
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Europa Nostra Award
Valletta Waterfront (Medal 2005) -
European Capital of Culture
2018 -
World Monuments Watch (past)
Valletta - Fort St. Elmo (2008)
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- Timeline
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Built in the 16th century
Valleta's prime period was the 16th century - see Wiki for list of its major buildings including most churches and palaces
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- Science and Technology
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Libraries
National Library of Malta (originated in 1555)
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- WHS Names
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Named after individual people
Grandmaster Jean de la Vallette
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- 18
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Used in film as another WHS
Gladiator (as Rome), Kingdom of Heaven + World War Z (as Jerusalem) -
Location for a classic movie
Fort St Elmo - Midnight Express (1978, Best motion picture at the Golden Globes) -
James Bond in books
The Spy who loved me -
Game of Thrones (Filming Locations)
Filming Location for King's Landing (1st Season only)
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News
- timesofmalta.com 11/27/2023
- Controversy over St John's Co-Cath…
- maltatoday.com.mt 12/05/2015
- Valletta’s UNESCO status undermine…
- timesofmalta.com 10/10/2015
- Expert seeks changes to St John’s …
Recent Visitors
Visitors of Valletta
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Community Reviews
Show full reviews
A beautiful city! My wife and I visited here in December 2024, so outside of "peak season" for Malta. (Which is during the Summer, for the beaches.)
The first activity my wife and I did was take a popular walking tour of Valletta. I'd recommend this as a fantastic way to introduce yourself to the city and its history, and to get yourself acquainted with what important sites exist within the city, how they are connected, and why they are important.
Other reviewers here have covered what great things there are to see. I second all of their recommendations, from the overwhelming Co-Cathedral, to the stunning Barrakka Gardens, to the grim Underground Valletta tour opened in 2021. All of these can begin to get pricey (especially the co-cathedral!) but Malta offers a 🎫"Multipass" that I would recommend as a way to make the most of your time on the island. As of 2024 it gives access to five sites in Valletta, plus twenty others across the country.
🚗We ended up opting for a rental car. (Part of a longer story, with the original intention having been to exclusively use public transport.) Beware this option! While it provides a lot of flexibility, is cheap, and we had a positive experience with it while visiting in the Winter, parking in Valletta is very limited, with at least half of the spots being reserved for island residents. (Indicated with 🟩green outlines instead of ⬜white.) The existing "free" parking …
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Other reviewers have spoken about the highlights of Valletta: the magnificent interior of St John’s Co-Cathedral (despite its plain exterior), the hilly grid layout with many Baroque buildings, and the spectacular view of the Grand Harbour from Upper Barrakka Gardens. One aspect that has not been mentioned, probably because it only opened in 2021, is the tour of underground Valletta. For 15€, one can join a tour of the tunnels that lie beneath the city. The tour begins from MUŻA, the art museum located in the Baroque building that was the Auberge d’Italie. There are several such auberges throughout Valletta, each of which hosted knights of the Order of St John from the various countries. The Auberge de Castille is the grandest of these, housing Maltese government offices, whilst the Auberge de Provence is now host to the National Archaeology Museum, well worth visiting as it includes artefacts from Malta’s two other WHS, the megalithic temples and the Hypogeum. Returning to the underground tour, after a short wait in MUŻA’s courtyard, each of our group of ten or so was given a hardhat fitted with flashlight and then led out through the streets to the entrance to the underground, hidden amidst the tables of an unassuming restaurant.
The tunnels here were built at the same time as the city above in the 16th Century to help survive any future sieges after their successful defence against the Ottomans in 1565. In World War II, the city and its strategic harbour …
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The City of Valletta is an incredible sight when arriving by boat, as sandy fortress walls rise up from the harbor, topped with gardens, church domes and spires, and tiers of balconied houses. When the sun hits the city, it is a beauty to behold.
Valletta, like Malta's other two World Heritage Sites, is among the oldest sites on the UNESCO list. I visited the site in late November 2019, but since I had only a limited amount of time on shore and I had a plan to visit all three Maltese World Heritage Sites, I was not able to devote as much time to the city as I had wanted (and it didn't help that I bled time by taking the wrong bus to the Hypogeum). Consequently, I was unable to visit St. John's Co-Cathedral, for which I know I need to return. That said, I did attend an evening service at the Collegiate Parish Church of St. Paul's Shipwreck, which has an exquisite interior and relics related to St. Paul, who, as the name implies, was shipwrecked on Malta.
Both the Upper Barrakka Gardens and the Lower Barrakka Gardens were beautiful to stroll through, and I enjoyed wandering the streets all decorated for Christmas. Unfortunately there were some protests underway against the Maltese government when I visited, so some of the area around Parliament and the Auberge de Castile, which houses the Prime Minister's office, was closed off.
Valletta is most famous for being the home …
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I went to Malta on a last-minute whim over New Year 2014/15. After a lovely fireworks display at midnight, the weather was terrible on 1st Jan - raining all day. We managed to explore the small city of Valletta when the sun came out over the next few days, basing ourselves in an Airbnb apartment right in the centre.
Valletta is south of two African capitals: Tunis and Algiers – making it one of the most southerly reaches of Europe. It has a fascinating history, having been ruled by a who's who of civilisations since Antiquity.
St John’s Co-Cathedral was a highlight for me, notable for housing two of the finest paintings from Caravaggio’s oevre. The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist is said to be the first depiction of a ‘tragedy’ in post-Classical art.
On a different note, I regret to inform Paul Tanner that Malta's buses are no longer so characterful - they have been replaced by boring green Arriva buses of the sort you might find in Wales.
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I used to live quite close to this WHS. I believe Valletta, Malta's capital city, is a treasure trove of history and culture built by the Knights of St. John. The natural harbour with its fortifications and bastions are best seen from sea preferably with the smaller boats known as Luzzu or Latini boats which are ideal to go deeper in all the creeks. Don't miss Caravaggio's Beheading of St. John in the Cathedral and the magnificent view overlooking the Grand Harbour from the Upper and Lower Barrakka Gardens.
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Valletta has only 6,000 people and is the EU's smallest capital city, but it makes up for that with a huge number of great buildings and fortifications unmatched by much larger cities. The best sight is St.John's Co-Cathedral - unremarkable from the outside, but pure Baroque splendour on the inside. Other interesting sights include the Grand Master's Palace, the Upper Barakka Gardens, the Archaeology Museum and the two harbours on each side of the peninsula Valletta occupies (a harbour cruise is not to be missed). The city is so small that all sights can easily be reached on foot, but it can still take quite a while, because on any given day, thousands of cruise-ship passengers crowd the streets.
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Valetta was the first stop of our 7-day Mediterranean Cruise. While on the ship, we were advised to wake up early before it docks on the port because it is the most wonderful scenery during the trip. I was so glad I did. Just before sunrise, I positioned myself to a very vantage point on the upper deck to discover a sight never seen before. It was really magnificent as we approached the port and although I took a lot of pictures, I can still visualize in my mind the very wonderful sight I saw. And that was just the beginning. Although we didn't go very far, our stopover was well worth it. We were supposed to do a city bus tour but we ended up hopping into a cab and asked to be taken to the bus station where we came to a very good place to start our walking tour. It was a holiday then and school children were out with their parents. Just walking around gave us a lot of pleasure seeing the locals and lots of tourists as well. Plenty of shopping opportunities but I opted not to spend on anything. On the way back to the ship, we walked exploring the steep steps going down. We didn't have enough time to go inside the St. John's Cathedral, but what we saw was enough to wet our appetite to see more next time we decide to tour this place again.
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Like many tourists, we first reached Valetta at its bus terminus just outside the city gate. Maltese buses are (were?) wonderful decorated and lumbering creatures but the diesel fumes, noise and general chaos did not seem to augur well. However, once through the walls, we found a delightful place. It is of an ideal size for exploring on foot, (but be ready for the “streets of steps” – it is rather hilly). Almost every building seems “old” albeit that many appear to need a bit of tender care and restoration!! Many have stone or wooden balconies which are typically “Maltese” and differentiate this city from others in the Mediterranean. The city’s position on a promontory between 2 arms of its wonderful harbour provides great views. We visited it on a short stopover on the way to/from Libya and it had to compete with the all other sights of Malta in 2 full days. Often we feel that we have given a city too long but just over half a short winter’s day was, unfortunately, not enough in this quite small city – we didn’t even have time for a harbour cruise or to visit the museum. As a result it joins my list of cities which I don’t feel I adequately explored but which, regrettably, are in locations which, given all the other places to see in this world, don’t have enough other attractions to take us back – perhaps in later retirement!
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The city of Valletta is one of the early WHS (1980), usually a good omen (together with matching criterium 1, a masterpiece of human creative genius, which Valletta also does). Only 7000 people live here, in this fortress city.
In the early evenings, I found the best time to roam around this city's streets. It's cooler and quieter then, and the shade and the descending sun do some marvelous things with the narrow streets and the monumental houses.
One thing not to be missed is the Cathedral. Not too spectacular on the outside, but with an amazing interior. Every wall and pillar is decorated with thick, curly ornamentation. Its floor consists of elaborately painted marble gravestones.
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The small capital of Malta is a great place to visit and I was happy to make this World Heritage Site visit number 100!
The city sits at the end of a peninsular and is enclosed in impressive fortifications. We spent four nights here using it as a base for exploring the country via the unique bus service. The city itself is uniform and surprisingly hilly with streets of steps a regular feature, St Ursular’s Street is perhaps the nicest and contains the thoroughly recommended Asti Guesthouse. The tall buildings are quite uniform however there are a few lovely façades especially on the Auberge de Castille. On the whole Valletta would be a nice site, however it does have two magnificent features that really warrant a visit.
Firstly there are the Gardens dotted around the extremities of the city. The most impressive are the Upper Barakka Gardens, which overlook one of the greatest natural harbours of Europe. These are a great place to just sit and relax and soak up the great panorama. The Hastings Gardens on the opposite side of the city are also worth a bit of time and offer nice views of the fortifications.
The most impressive thing in Valletta however is St John’s Co-Cathedral, as said elsewhere on this page the outside is nothing special, however the interior is spectacular. It is reasonably small but it is perfect! Baroque decoration covers every surface and the floor rightfully claims to be the most impressive in the world, …
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