Valletta : the significance of its architectural evolution

Abstract

Valletta is an incredible and complex city. Its story is vast, and the changes that have occurred since its inception are extensive. The war machine, the 'City of God', a city by the Order of St. John the well planned city fortress, the renaissance city, the baroque city, the mercantile city : Valletta has not only had a vast story, but a story that has generated a city with an immense disposition. The richness has led to a situation whereby many have become protective over the city that is now being perceived by the latter as a historical artefact. This protectionist position that many enclose upon the city may come in the way of the potential that Valletta has to house the best works that present day architectural practice can produce. It will be suggested in this dissertation that Valletta besides being guided by certain generative principles that are inbuilt into the machine that is the city, such as the grid, the walls, and the sea, has evolved also simultaneously as an organism, influenced by circumstances and unknown future events. The keen sense that it had to adapt to the times throughout its story may lead to it being recognised as a contemporary city. The underlying theme in this dissertation is fundamentally a question. How can a city with so many identities, with so many layers of event and architecture stop evolving further into the future? The way it has evolved into what it has become today means something, and it is this significance that this dissertation aims to bring to light.