City Walls of Valletta - Valletta, Malta.
Posted by: neoc1
N 35° 53.662 E 014° 30.723
33S E 455963 N 3972342
The city walls of Valletta were constructed by the Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem to protect the city from attack by the Ottoman Empire.
Waymark Code: WMVACJ
Location: Malta
Date Posted: 03/23/2017
Views: 20
In 1551, a brief Ottoman attack on Malta prompted the Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem to form a commission to improve the island's fortifications. In 1522 a fort was built at the location of a watchtower. Nonetheless the fort fell during the Great Siege of Malta of 1565. The knights held out across the Grand Harbor in Birgu and Senglea until a relief arrived and the siege was broken.
The construction of the city's stone walls was begun by Grand Master Jean de Valette on March 28, 1566 and were mostly complete by the 1570s. The city walls consist of a series of of bastions, demi-bastions, cavaliers and curtains, approximately 100 meters high. The walled City of Valletta is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
From the Lascaris Wharf at the southwestern end of the city walls a lift now takes you over the walls to the Upper Barrakka Gardens (the location of the coordinates).
Footnotes:
Information about the city walls of Valetta were paraphrased from the following sources:
Wikipedia article - Fortifications of Valletta: (
visit link)
and
Wikipedia article - Knights Hospitaller:
(
visit link)
and
UNESCO World Heritage Site - City of Valletta: (
visit link)