Valletta 1566-1798 : an epitome of Europe

Abstract

Fra Jean de la Valette, Grand Master of the Order of the Hospital of Jerusalem, mindful of the danger to which, a year before, his Knights and the Maltese people were exposed during the siege by the Turks, having consulted the Heads of the Order about the construction of a new city and the fortification of it, by walls, ramparts, and towers, sufficient to resist any attack and to repel, or at least to keep away, the Turkish enemy; on Thursday, 28 March 1566, after the invocation of the Almighty God, of the Virgin Mary His Mother, of the Patron Saint John the Baptist, and of the other Saints, to grant that the work commenced should lead to the prosperity and the happiness of the whole Christian Community and to the advantage of the Order, laid the foundation stone of the City on the hill called Sceberras by the inhabitants, and having granted for the arms of the City a golden lion done in miniature upon a red shield, he wished the City to be called by his name Valletta. (Translation of the Latin inscription on the foundation stone of Valletta.)