2 Euro BU

Valletta is situated on the Sciberras Peninsula between the Grand Harbour and Marsamxett Harbour. Its origins are linked to the Order of St John (Johanniterorden), which had settled in Malta in 1530. The Order had originally been founded to provide for and protect pilgrims in the Holy Land and later also developed into a military and political power in the Mediterranean region.

The immediate reason for the construction of the city was the Ottoman siege of Malta in 1565. The fighting showed that the existing fortifications around the Grand Harbour needed to be supplemented. The following year, the foundation stone was laid for a new fortified city. It was named after Jean Parisot de Valette, the Grand Master of the Order of St John at the time, who had led the defence during the siege.

The Italian military engineer Francesco Laparelli was commissioned with the planning. He designed a regular street network and a system of bastions, curtain walls, moats and other defensive structures. After Laparelli’s departure, the Maltese architect Girolamo Cassar continued the work. He also designed several buildings belonging to the Order. In 1571, the Order of St John moved its seat from Birgu to the new city.

The fortifications shaped not only the cityscape but also Valletta’s function as a political and military centre. Within the walls, the conventual church of the Order, later St John’s Co-Cathedral, the auberges of the various langues, as well as administrative buildings and residences were constructed. The systematically planned urban area remained closely connected spatially with its defensive works.

Since 1980, Valletta has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The walls illustrate early modern fortification architecture as well as Malta’s position along the Mediterranean’s conflict and trade routes of the time. This explains its suitability as a motif within a thematic focus on fortified Maltese cities.