The *Valletta Museum, Strada San Giovanni 38, opposite the façade of the Cathedral, affords an admirable survey of the history of Maltese art and culture from the prehistoric age down to the close of the Knights’ period. Adm., see p. [400]; no catalogue; curator, Dr. Themistocles Zammit.
Entrance Room. On the left the ‘sacred stone’ from the Torre dei Giganti (p. [404]); Roman inscriptions from Gozo (about 140 A. D.); a fine Norman capital, Norman and Cufic (early Arabic) inscriptions, etc.; also models of stone balconies and of a Norman window at Victoria (p. [404]).
First Floor. Prehistoric objects from Egypt (the Faiyûm); the Lord Grenfell collection of Egyptian antiquities; Greek vases from Benghazi and Cyrene; Arabian glass, etc.
Second Floor. In the Ante Room are Roman sculptures.—The Chief Hall contains prehistoric, Phœnician, Punic, and Roman objects from tombs in Malta and Gozo. By the entrance-wall is a large collection of vases arranged in types. In the last case are potsherds from various neolithic stations. By the back-wall are prehistoric finds from Hal-Saflieni (see below) and Hagiar Kim (p. [403]), vases, amulets, projectiles, flint implements, seven seated stone figures, etc.; adjacent, on the left, is the unique Phœnician-Greek dedicatory inscription in which Phœnician characters were for the first time deciphered (on the right, cast of a similar inscription in the Louvre). By the window-wall are copies and models of the so-called chief temple of Hagiar Kim and of Phœnician tombs; also an Arabian tombstone (1173), with a long Cufic inscription. In the first case in the centre is Phœnician glass; in the fourth, a Phœnician terracotta sarcophagus, with the recumbent figure of the deceased. The Second Room contains memorials of the period of the Order.—In the Passage are drawings of the Roman house at Notabile (p. [403]) and its mosaics.—The Third Room contains old plans, maps, and views of Malta of old; model of a state-galley of the Grand Masters; a collection of coins from the Phœnician age to the present day.
Each of the nine nations of the Order had its own ‘auberge’ or house of assembly. Most of these were built by Girol. Cassar. The Auberge d’Aragon is in the Piazza Celsi. At the upper end of the town are the Aub. de Provence, at the corner of the Strada Reale and Strada Britannica, the Aub. d’Italie (1574), in the Strada Mercanti, opposite the post-office, and the handsome Aub. de Castille (1574; altered in 1744), in the Piazza Regina.—A few paces from the Piazza Regina are the Upper Barracca Gardens (laid out on the large bastion of Barracca Superiore; lift, see p. [400]), embellished with numerous statues, and affording a fine view of the Grand Harbour, especially by evening light.
Through the Porta Reale (P. R. on the map) we reach the plateau between Valletta and the suburb of Floriana. Near the gate is the tramway-station (p. [400]). On the right, farther on, is the Parade Ground. In the middle of the plateau, beyond the bronze statue of Ant. Manoel de Vilhena (p. [401]), runs the long narrow Maglio Garden, enclosed by high walls. Farther on we come to the bastions of Floriana, on which are situated the Argotti or Botanic Garden, belonging to the university, and the Sarrìa, a handsome church of the Maltese Order (1678).
At Casal Paula or Paula, 2 M. to the S. of Floriana, beyond the Creek of Marsa, lies the prehistoric Hypogaeum of Hal Saflieni, containing circular caves, some of them richly decorated, of the period of the neolithic civilization. Entrance (6d.) in Catacomb Street, 5 min. from the tramway-terminus (p. [400]).
Railway (p. [400]) from Valletta to Notabile (carr., see p. [399]). After the long tunnel under Floriana come the stations of Hamrun, Misida, Birchircara, and (4½ M.) Attard (Alb. Melita). About 10 min. to the N. of Attard is the Palace of Sant’Antonio (1625), once the summer seat of the Grand Master (visitors admitted to the fine garden). The road in front of the palace goes on to (2 M.) Musta, with a remarkable church, whose huge dome, 118 ft. in diameter, was constructed in 1853–64 without the aid of scaffolding.
7 M. Notábile or Città Vecchia (Hôt. du Point-de-Vue, with fine view, pens. 7–8s.; pop. 7500), still popularly called Medina (Arabic for ‘town’), the seat of the bishop, was the old fortified capital of the island as far back as the Roman age.
From the Notabile station a road leads to the Piazza Sakkaya, on the hill between the old town and the S. suburb of Rábato. Thence we pass through the Porta dei Greci to St. Paul’s Cathedral (San Paolo), before whose portal are planted cannons as in the time of the Order. The sumptuous interior contains many marble tombstones of Maltese bishops. Fine choir-stalls of 1480. The Strada dei Bastioni behind the church commands an extensive view.