12 EUROPEAN CAPITALS OF CULTURE

Candidate European Capital of Culture, 2018Valletta, Back to its FutureValletta, spring 2010: a British

theatre impresario, a Maltesestage director and a French

diplomat greet each other in RepublicStreet. Valletta, spring 1710: thePortuguese Grand Master RamonPerellos raises a hand in polite greetingto the Pope's representative, theInquisitor, as their sedan chairs pass.Three hundred years apart, yet these twoevents characterise Valletta. It's a citythat has been always a melting pot ofcultures, open to outsiders andinfluenced by them. All along though, ithas retained a unique sense of self as aEuropean, yet distinctly Mediterraneancity. Valletta's Mayor, Alexiei Dingli,echoes this when he says "Valletta is amirror which reflects our commonEuropean heritage, a canvas which lendsits spaces to showcase the diverse

European identity, a city which respectsits past while embracing its Europeanfuture in a Euro-Med context."When Benjamin Disraeli visited Valletta in1830 before he became Britain's primeminister, he described it as "a city ofpalaces built by gentlemen forgentlemen", its architectural richescomparable to those of Venice andworthy of Palladio. Visitors today stillshare in Disraeli's view. Valletta isdominated by the vast cultural legacy ofthe Order of the Knights of St John whofounded the city in 1566, and made ittheir seat for 232 years.Named after French Grand Master JeanParisot de la Valette, who defended theislands successfully at the Great Siege ofMalta in 1565, Valletta was a fortress city,Christian Europe's most southerlyoutpost against the Ottoman Empire.

Born as a fighting machine, Vallettachanged guise even as its bastions andgrand palaces, auberges, took shape.After the Great Siege, riches flowed infrom most of Europe's nobility andValletta slipped into a new role as patronof the arts.Valletta entered a golden age under theKnights as a showcase of leading-edgeEuropean culture, art and architecture.So many of Europe's great creatives ofthe time worked for the Order, Vallettacould claim to be a forerunner city ofculture. Among them was MichelangeloMerisi da Caravaggio whose largest andonly signed canvas, depicting thebeheading of St John the Baptist, hangsin St John's Co-Cathedral.

A city in search of new authorsValletta was created as a stage set for

Valletta skyline. Courtesy of Aron Mifsud Bonnici (AronMifsudBonnici.com).

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people from beyond Malta's shores.When they went, it was left theadministrative, judicial and commercialcentre of Malta, but in search of a newcultural role. With its defences unused,colonisers long gone and industrialharbours abandoned by trade, whatdoes Valletta want to be now? Wherenext for this isolated capitalovershadowed by history and theresponsibility of preserving a Europe-wide artistic, cultural and architecturalheritage?Valletta may have been built bygentlemen, but its mission in the 21stcentury is to be a 'city of the people forthe people'; its cultural life not defined instone, but in what it does. The city isseeing a rush of regenerationprogrammes making exciting use of itsincredible heritage. Valletta is on a driveto be the relevant, contemporary city itwas when founded nearly 450 years ago.

Scene changeValletta's UNESCO World Heritage statusis now a liberating force, not astraitjacket. New generations are

moving in converting spaciouspatricians' houses into des res here andseeing the potential of creative andgastronomic businesses there. Privateinitiatives and public works are joiningforces to breathe life into Valletta.St James' Cavalier, a fort at Valletta's citygate, has transformed from run-downgovernment printing press into a Centrefor Creativity. Its art-house cinema,performance spaces and exhibition hallsare giving free reign to new culturalexpression and experimentation in Malta.Old music halls, once favourite haunts ofBritish service personnel, are now winebars doubling up as arts' venues, orbeing snapped up as swish retail units.Valletta has seen a derelict quay becomea prestigious commercial waterfront withcafes, restaurants and cruise liner

facilities. Ailing docks are now marinasfit for super yachts. European Unionfunds are helping shore up Valletta'sbastions.Valletta is centre stage again for trade,this time in a cultural currency. The city,flanked by its two massive naturalharbours - Grand Harbour andMarsamxetto - is an evocative backdropto world-class events such as theannual, month-long Malta Arts Festival inJuly. Andalusian flamenco troops,American ballad singers, BritishShakespearian actors and numerouslocal artists find themselves performingside by side in venues ranging from citypiazzas and a botanical gardens to theruins of a 19th century opera and palacecourtyards.The Malta International Jazz Festival in

The City Gate Project, Valletta. Courtesy of Renzo Piano Building Workshop, sketch by Renzo Piano.

Marsamxett Harbour: Courtesy of Aron Mifsud Bonnici (AronMifsudBonnici.com).

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mid July each year is one of the best-loved uses of Valletta's old wharfs. It hasseen the greats grace its stage, and loveit so much they return. With bastionsone side and the flood-lit fortifications ofthe old Three Cities across GrandHarbour, Malta Jazz is unique for itssetting alone.Italian architect Renzo Piano once saidthat Valletta was a city of ghosts, but nolonger. April saw the start of his plans forthe regeneration of Valletta's city gatearea. Some €80m in government fundsis seeing the implementation of daringplans for a new parliament building,public and performance spaces and amuch-needed 'green lung'. The new-design parliament will allow its currentseat, the imposing Grand Master'sPalace, to be opened to the public. Theruins of an old opera house, bombed flatin World War II, will become an open-airperformance space. The fortificationditches will see park benches rather thanparked cars when they becomelandscaped gardens.City Gate may be stealing the limelight,but at the very tip of the Vallettapeninsula is a vast fort that will seeupward of €30 million in restorationsupported by EU Structural Funds. FortSt Elmo, so huge it houses the MaltaPolice Academy and the War Museumwith room to spare is being renovated tobring socio-economic and cultural life tothe fringes of the city.For too long the city's waterfronts havebeen no-go zones of docks, warehousesand military bases. Now, the GrandHarbour Regeneration Project has setabout restoring Valletta's harbours totheir rightful place as a national asset

and returning them to the people.European Regional Development Fundsare helping transform a run-down dockand inner creeks near the old powerstation into venues for leisure, yachting,heritage trails, cultural activities andquality retail and commercial spaces.Living with a monument and making amonument live are challenges facing notjust the city of Valletta but all Malta. Thecountry, like its capital, has an incrediblewealth of heritage including moreUNESCO World Heritage: its sevenmegalithic temple sites, some of whichpredate Stonehenge by 1,000 years; andthe Hypogeum, a complex ofunderground chambers, part temple, partnecropolis that was dug out by man inaround 2,500 B.C.On a short stay, and within half an hourof Valletta, visitors can span some 7,000years of not only Malta's cultural history,but also a great deal of theMediterranean's too. Even Gozo,Malta's smaller sister island, is little morethan an hour away from Valletta by roadand ferry, and just 20 minutes by seaplane from Grand Harbour.

A city by another nameAny discussion of Valletta inevitably talksof Malta. The city and the state areinseparable. Malta takes on Valletta'smantle every time it is described as'Fortress Island', or 'Nurse of theMediterranean' for its role in World WarII. But can a micro island state in theMediterranean have cities at all?Stand in Valletta's Upper BarrakkaGardens jostling with the touristssnapping photos of the Grand Harbourpanorama and see the urban arc around

you. Valletta's pull has always reachedfar beyond its bastions. Today, the city isa magnet attracting up to 60,000commuters a day, yet it has around only6,500 residents. Include its satellitetowns and the population of this urban,'greater Valletta' swells to around250,000, well over half that of theMaltese Islands.

Valletta as European City ofCultureValletta is a city of contradictions. It hascity status, though small. It was, and isstill, a European cultural centre, thoughon the limits of Europe, and it became astrategic theatre of war by virtue ofgeography and history, not from its owndesire. Built as a fortress, it could surviveonly by being open to the outside world.Connected historically by shipping, it isconnected today by broadband.Valletta's bid to be a European City ofCulture in 2018 gives contemporarymeaning to these age-old contradictions.It looks not just north, but also south andeast as it rekindles cultural ties with oldprotagonists in its history. This year'sMalta Arts Festival is inviting an act fromIstanbul, European City of Culture 2010and the EU has just opened its Arab-Liaison Office on the city's fringes.Valletta has gone back to its future.

The 18th century Manoel Theatre. Courtesy ofWalter Barbara.

Valletta Waterfront. Courtesy of Andrew Galea Debono.