Malta’s Covent Garden : the Valletta Market

Abstract

The city of Valletta was laid out by the Knights of Malta in the 16th and 17th centuries, a fine, early example of town planning in golden stone which was altered very little during the 19th century. When Malta became a British colony, the barracks and public buildings required by the new administration were built largely outside the town. An exception was the Valletta Market of 1861. It stands today, an elegant stone and iron structure opposite the 16th century palace of the Grand Masters in Merchant Street and, in spite of its very Victorian appearance, blends harmoniously with the earlier architecture that surrounds it. Apart from the Anglican Cathedral of St Paul and the Scottish church it is the only important 19th-century public building to have survived the bombing of Valletta in the Second World War, which destroyed Barry's Opera House of the same date.