City of Valletta
The Knights' Baroque capital on its peninsula between two harbours. UNESCO listing (opens the UNESCO site) ↗︎
History
The story of Malta
Malta's megalithic temples, built from around 3600 BC, are among the oldest free-standing stone buildings on earth, older than Stonehenge and the pyramids of Giza. Phoenicians, Romans, Byzantines and Arabs followed; tradition holds that St Paul was shipwrecked here in AD 60, and the Arab centuries gave the Maltese language its Semitic roots.
In 1530 the islands were given to the Knights of St John. In 1565 they withstood the Great Siege by the Ottoman fleet, and the next year Grand Master Jean de Valette laid the first stone of Valletta, a fortified Baroque city built, it was said, "by gentlemen for gentlemen". After a brief French occupation, Malta was British from 1800, independent from 1964 and joined the European Union in 2004.
A short timeline
- The temple buildersc. 3600 to 2500 BC
Ġgantija, Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra.
- Phoenicians and RomansFrom c. 8th century BC
Melite, today's Mdina.
- The Arab period870 to 1091
The roots of the Maltese language.
- The Knights of St John1530 to 1798
The Great Siege of 1565 and the building of Valletta.
- British Malta1800 to 1964
A naval base at the heart of the Mediterranean.
- Independence1964
A republic from 1974; in the European Union since 2004.
