The History of Volta (Malta) – Pirates, Turks, Napoleon and the Blitz

The city of Valletta, the capital of Malta, is one of the main attractions on the island thanks to its beautiful buildings, the view from the Barca Gardens towards the three cities, the museums and the streets – almost each of which tells a different story. It is a city with a fascinating history that begins with a Turkish siege, passes through the story of the Knights of Malta and ends with fierce battles in World War II.

Those who know me and my website know that my motto is that knowing the history of the place you are traveling to will enhance your travel experience. That's why today I decided to bring you a summary of the fascinating history of Malta's capital, which will help you understand what you see and experience in the city.

The Turkish siege that led to the birth of Valletta

When you walk through Valletta and see its many palaces and baroque churches, it's easy to get confused and think that this is an ancient city like The city of MedinaHowever, this city was built “only” in the 16th century, and by the standards of Malta – whose history stretches back about 4000 years (and perhaps more) – it is a very young city, not even finishing kindergarten.

Vocational training from doctors to pirates

To understand how Valletta came to be, we must go back in time to the days of the Crusades. During that time, several orders were created to protect the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. One of these orders was the Order of the Hospitallers, whose original mission was to provide medical services to pilgrims and the inhabitants of the cities conquered by the Crusaders.

As I said, the members of the order were originally engaged in medicine, defending fortresses, and fighting infidels in the Holy Land. Now the members of the order decided to become pirates and take the war against the Muslims to the Mediterranean, by robbing Muslim ships. The new career of these knights attracted the attention of the Ottomans, who at that time began to conquer a huge kingdom for themselves, and in 1453 they even conquered Byzantium, putting an end to an empire that had been in existence for over 1000 years.

In 1480, in order to deal with the pirate knights once and for all, the Turks invaded the island of Rhodes and laid siege to the Hospitaller fortress. After fierce and bloody battles, the siege failed and the Turks retreated, but they did not give up trying to drive the Hospitallers from Rhodes. In 1522, an Ottoman army of about 100,000 men, armed with heavy siege guns, invaded. This time the knights had no chance, and after a siege accompanied by heavy fighting, they agreed to surrender in January 1523. In exchange, they were allowed to leave Rhodes and not become prisoners of war.

Since Malta was a barren and poor place, and farming was not very profitable, the Knights of Malta returned to piracy, robbing Muslim ships throughout the Mediterranean. Not surprisingly, this angered the Turkish Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, and in 1565 he sent a huge fleet and army to Malta to expel the Hospitallers, just as they had been expelled from Rhodes.

This time, however, the outcome of the siege will be completely different…

Malta Yok!

The Turkish fleet, with an army of about 40,000 men, arrived in Malta in May 1565, and on the 18th of that month laid siege to the cities of Birgu, Senglea and the fortress of Saint Elmo, where about 500 Knights of Malta were stationed, joined by about 6,000 additional soldiers. The Knights of Malta were led by the head of the order at the time, Knight FranceIn the name of Jean Parisot de Valette (1494–1568).

Despite his advanced age, the head of the order was at the peak of his fitness, and he managed to organize a very effective defense of the fortresses where the knights were entrenched, which allowed them to repel the Ottoman army despite being outnumbered.

Initially, the Turks attempted to capture Fort St. Elmo, which commanded Marsaxmett Bay and from which the Knights of Malta in Senglea and Birgu could be easily bombarded. Despite being vastly outnumbered, the Knights of Malta managed to withstand the siege, shelling, and relentless attacks by the Turkish elite unit, the Janissaries, for nearly a month, until the fort was captured.

However, the price of capturing the fortress was very high. The Turks lost about 6,000 men and about half of their Janissary unit. The heaviest price the Turks paid was the death of one of their most important commanders, Admiral Dragut (1485–1565).

On 15 July, Mustafa Pasha, the commander of the Turkish army, ordered a double attack against the Senglea peninsula, but the Knights were able to repel the attack. Further attempts to capture the fortress of St. Michael and Birgu also failed. On 7 September, a large relief force of about 8,000 men finally arrived from Sicily.

Mustafa Pasha believed that the relief force was much larger than it actually was, so he ordered a retreat. In the battles that followed, the Turks were completely defeated. The Turks left Malta on September 13. When what remained of the Turkish fleet arrived in Istanbul, the Sultan asked Mustafa Pasha how the siege had ended, and he replied with the famous phrase: “Malta yuk!” (There is no Malta).

The victory at the Great Siege of Malta is considered one of the most famous events in sixteenth-century Europe. Voltaire (1694–1778), the philosopherFranceThe famous one even said: “Nothing is better known than the siege of Malta.”

Valletta – a new capital for the Knights of Malta

The Knights of Malta managed to survive the Turkish siege, but they knew that the Turks might return in the future to finish the job. Therefore, it was decided to build a fortified city on Sciberras Hill, on which the Turks placed their siege guns.

The military architect Francesco Laparelli (1521–1570) was entrusted with the task, and after his death it was continued by Girolamo Cassar (1520–1592). The cornerstone was laid by Jean de la Vallet about a year after the siege, and in 1571 the city became the official capital of Malta. La Vallet died in 1568 and did not live to see the completion of the construction work, but he was honored with the new city being named after him, thanks to his heroic leadership during the siege.

Unlike Malta's previous capital, Mdina, there are no winding alleys here, but straight streets in a two-and-a-half-square pattern, as was common in Renaissance city planning. Now that the Knights of Malta had succeeded in building a nearly impenetrable fortress, they were free to continue robbing Turkish and other ships, and also to engage in "snobbery" with European rulers, who were happy to give money to the order that had managed to stop the Turkish army, which until then had been considered almost invincible.

The good economic situation of the Knights of Malta during the 17th and early 18th centuries allowed them to build a series of magnificent buildings and palaces, which gave Valletta its magnificent appearance. The types of buildings can be divided into several categories.

Headquarters

The Order of the Knights of Malta is an international order and since the 14th century it has been divided into 8 “Langues”:

• Provence (Provence)
• Auvergne
• France
• Italy
• Aragon
• England (including knights from Scotland and Ireland)
• Germany
• Castile and Portugal

This is why the emblem of the Order of the Knights of Malta is an eight-pointed cross, with each point representing a different “tongue.” Each of these “tongues” was responsible for a specific function of the order. For example, the French ran the order’s hospital, while the head of the Italian “tongue” was in charge of the knights’ fleet.

Each of the “tongues” had a headquarters, called an Auberge (inn in French), where its affairs were conducted. These headquarters are scattered throughout Valletta and constitute some of the most magnificent buildings in the city. The most magnificent of these, in my opinion, is the headquarters building of Castile and Portugal, which was built by Manuel Pinto da Fonseca (1681–1773), and which currently houses the office of the Maltese Prime Minister.

churches

Malta is perhaps the most Catholic country in Europe, with 365 churches (yes, one for every day of the year). Some of the most magnificent churches in Valletta belong to these “languages” (for example, the Church of Santa Caterina, which belongs to the Italian “language” and is named after Saint Catherine of Siena).

The most magnificent church in Valletta and Malta (and in my opinion one of the most magnificent in Europe) is the Cathedral of Saint John, named after the patron saint of the Order of the Knights of Malta. The cathedral was built between 1573 and 1578 and is made up of several chapels, each of which belongs to a different “language” of the order. This is not the place to elaborate on this magnificent church, every inch of which is covered in decorations, pictures and statues, but if you come to visit there, don’t miss the famous painting by Caravaggio, who was a Knight of Malta for a short time until he got into trouble with the law and fled.

Valletta from the expulsion of the Knights of Malta to the present day

From the late 17th century onwards, the Order of Malta began to decline. Military and religious discipline relaxed, and the Knights of Malta began to pursue less Turkish ships and more lovers and prostitutes. For example, “Straight Street”, which had previously been used by the Knights of Malta for duels, became Valletta’s main prostitution street (today it is actually a street of restaurants and pubs).

During the 18th century, another enemy was added to the heads of the order – the Enlightenment movement. Quite a few Knights of Malta, who came from established noble families, were exposed to the ideas of Voltaire, Diderot and Rousseau in the literary salons of Europe and gradually distanced themselves from religion and the principles of the order. When the French Revolution In 1789, quite a few of those knights (especially the French ones) began to sympathize with the principles of the Revolution.

As a result, in 1798 the Order of the Knights of Malta was like a tree eaten by termites – on the outside everything looked fine, but on the inside everything was completely rotten. That is why when Napoleon arrived in Malta, it took him exactly four days to conquer the island (from 9 to 13 June 1798). The Order, which had defended Malta fiercely in 1565, was forced to leave Malta in disgrace. After wandering around Europe, it transformed from a military order into a religious order that now operates hospitals in third world countries.

After conquering Malta, Napoleon continued on to Egypt and from there to Israel, but that is a story for another article. A small French garrison remained in Malta, which after a siege that lasted about two years lost the island to the British.

The island was a British protectorate until 1813, when it became a Crown Colony. Throughout these years, Valletta continued to serve as the island's capital, and one of the souvenirs from those days is the statue of Queen Victoria, which stands in the city's main street.

Malta wins the Golden Globe

Valletta's history continued to be fairly quiet until the outbreak of World War II in 1939. Malta's strategic location, not far from Italy and North Africa, made it an important military target that the Axis powers attempted to conquer.

For about two years, Valletta was under siege and suffered a long series of air raids, which destroyed quite a few of its magnificent buildings. An example of such a destroyed building is the Opera House, which is located not far from the entrance to Valletta and has never been restored (now it hosts open-air concerts). Quite a few churches were also damaged, and although they were renovated, the quality of the renovation, in my opinion, was not particularly high, and therefore some of them look like a kind of imitation of the magnificent Baroque style that characterized the city.

In 1964, Malta gained independence – initially as a British Crown Colony, and in 1974 as a full independent state. Valletta continued to function as the capital of the new country. Externally, Valletta remained more or less as it had been during the reign of the Knights of Malta, but in 2015 a building (very ugly in my opinion) was added to the cityscape: the Parliament Building, designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano, who Paris lovers know for another ugly building he designed – Center Pompidou.

Visit to the city of Valletta

If Valletta’s fascinating history is a good reason to visit, then in 2018 the city was awarded the title of European Capital of Culture – a recognition of its historical, cultural and aesthetic importance. In the near future I intend to dedicate an entire itinerary to this city among its main attractions, and until that itinerary is ready, I recommend you read the following articles:

• Recommended hotels in Volta – I really like Valletta and therefore highly recommend living there and enjoying its special atmosphere and central location. This article, which contains a series of recommended hotels in a variety of prices, will help you find the hotel that best suits you.
  
• Malta: A Traveler's Guide – Contains quite a bit of important tourist information, including the main attractions of Valletta, which are not to be missed.
  
• Recommended restaurants in Malta – In my opinion, cuisine is one of the most important elements of any successful trip. To save you from culinary failures, I have compiled on one page all the restaurants where I usually eat in Malta, and as you will see, there are several recommended restaurants in Valletta as well.