Valetta

Valetta (La Valetta), a fortress and beautiful city, capital of Malta, on the north-east side of the island. It occupies a rocky tongue of land over 3000 yards long, on either side of which are two noble harbours which are well worthy of the city's importance as chief naval station of Britain in the Mediterranean. The town and harbours are defended by a series of fortifications of great strength, many of them hewn out of the solid rock, and, mounted with the most powerful artillery, considered impregnable. The city proper on the rocky ridge has several suburbs on the other side of the harbours or on minor spits running into them. Besides the enormous forts, balconies, and battlements which are the principal architectural characteristics of the city, Valetta contains many noble edifices. The governor's palace—formerly that of the Grand-masters of the order of St John—is plain without, but magnificent within, and possesses an interesting armoury; the cathedral of St John is a superb structure; and the church of San Publio, with its famed sotteraneo ('vault') of embalmed monks and skeletons, the public library of 60,000 vols., the university, and the aqueduct, which brings water to the city from the far side of the island, a distance of 8¾ miles, are worthy of notice, as well as many of the palazzi of the Maltese nobles. There is a railway to Rabat in the interior. The city was named after the Grand-master La Valette, though there were fortifications and dwellings here long before that date. Valetta is the centre of the commerce of the island (see MALTA, and map given there). Pop. of Valetta (1891) with its suburbs of Floriana and Sliema, 37,350; of the other 'three cities' or suburbs of Senglea, Cospicua, and Vittoriosa, 24,802; collectively 62,152.