Malta 38 Valletta City Gate

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Malta
Valletta
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The entire city of Valletta is classified a
UNESCO World Heritage site City Gate (Maltese
Bieb il-Belt, literally "Door of the City") is a
gate located at the entrance of Valletta, Malta.
The present gate, which is the fifth one to have
stood on the site, was built between 2011 and
2014 to designs of the Italian architect Renzo
Piano
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A bridge spanning across Valletta's deep ditch
leads to the gate
The first gate which stood on the site was Porta
San Giorgio, which was built in 1569 to designs
of either Francesco Laparelli or Girolamo
Cassar. The last fortified gate was demolished in
1964, being replaced by a Rationalist gate
designed by Alziro Bergonzo. This gate was then
demolished in 2011, and it was replaced by
Piano's gate which was completed in 2014
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The bridge which leads people in through the city
gate and into Freedom Square, has throughout its
history undergone successive enlargements
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The project focuses on returning the bridge to
its 1633 gate dimensions, by demolishing later
additions
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This allows passers-by to once again have the
sensation of crossing a real bridge, and gives
them views of the ditch and fortifications.
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The bridge
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The Renzo Pianodesigned City Gate the
architecture forms a distinct 'V' shape (for
Valletta), and the gate is framed by a pair of
metal blades, each 25m high, designed to look
like knights' sabres.
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City gate shopping arcade Valletta Royal Malta
Artillery
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New Parliament City gate shopping
arcade Valletta
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In Liberty square are the building of the
Parliament of Malta, built between 2011 and 2015
by Renzo Piano the remains of the Royal Opera
house, who now function as a concert hall under
open sky and City gate
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The installation is part of VIVA - Valletta
International Visual Arts Festival being held
between September 1 7, 2014
Zieme by Austin Camilleri
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Austin Camilleris sculpture takes off from a
simple premise the fact that Malta, unlike other
countries in northern Europe, has no equestrian
monuments. "In equestrian monuments, the horse
carries representatives of power on its back and
hence is somewhat symbolic of power itself. His
horse thus refers to Maltas historic links with
other colonial powers, yet its location in front
of Vallettas new Parliament building designed by
Renzo Piano supplements it with rich, additional
layers of meaning. "Still, a missing detail in
this horse transforms the sculpture into an
ironic testimony to the illusory nature of power.
His loss makes him no longer productive.
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Street Art
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The City Gate project is a complex operation to
reconfigure the entrance to the city of Valletta.
The project has four parts the transformation of
the Valletta City Gate and the square immediately
outside the ramparts, the design of a new theatre
machine to be used for open-air productions in
the ruins of the old opera house (destroyed and
never rebuilt), the construction of a new
Parliament building, and the re-landscaping of
the moat. The Royal Opera house erected in 1866
was one of the most beautiful and iconic
buildings in Valletta. The theatre received a
direct hit from aerial bombing in 1942 during the
Second world war. The ruins were redesigned by
Italian architect Renzo Piano, and in 2013 the
theatre again began to function as a concert hall
under open sky
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Opera
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Palazzo Ferreria built in the late 19th century
by the architect Giuseppe Bonavia. It was the
first building, which introduced the fashion on
the famous wooden balconies on the facades of the
houses on the Islands of Malta. The Palace is the
national monument of the 1st class.
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Opera
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the Royal Theatre
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Built in the 1860s, the once imperious Opera
House was destroyed during a German air raid in
1942. Its gutted shell was left as a reminder of
the war, and now acts as a framework for the
Renzo Pianodesigned open-air performance space,
where bottle-green seating is raised above the
ruins. It's a wonderful place to catch a concert,
which are most frequent during the Arts Festival.
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the Royal Theatre
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the Royal Theatre
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Palazzo Ferreria
Opera
Parliament
The City Gate
Shopping Arcade
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the Parliament
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Inside the gate, a pair of wide, gently sloping
flights of steps, inspired by the stairs that
framed the original gate, link the bastions of St
James Cavalier and St Johns Cavalier to the
lower-level Republic St.
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The Parliament building comprises two massive
blocks in stone that stand on slender columns to
give a lightness to the building, whose shape
respects the existing street layout
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The two blocks are separated by a central
courtyard, which also serves as the main entrance
to the building
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The courtyard is conceived in such a way that
views through to St Jamess Cavalier from
Republic Street are not obscured
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the Parliament
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The Parliaments facades are faced in solid stone
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The buildings most striking feature is the
stonework cladding that has, in parts, lent it a
pierced or fretted appearance.
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The stone of Parliaments facades has been
sculpted by CNC machinery to create a fully
functional device that filters solar radiation
while allowing natural daylight inside, all the
while maintaining views from the building
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The laser cutting of blocks, so that they kick
out at an angle rather than sitting flush, allows
glimpses of the interior and filters strong
sunlight
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The stonework is load-bearing at lower levels but
becomes a screen to a steel frame higher up the
building. The placement of the openings suggests
an abstracted or pixellated map of Malta and Gozo
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 A new hard stone quarry on Gozo was opened up
specifically to provide stone for this project
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Each of these blocks of facade has been sculpted
by a numerically controlled machine. The result
is a stone architecture that is fitting for its
historic context but also the product of
cutting-edge technology
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Valetta is a historic city with a variety of
cultural and historic influences. These include
Sicilian and Arabic, a mixture of influences
reflected in the Maltese language, as well as
remnants of British rule. The city was officially
recognised as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in
1980 and Valletta was the European Capital of
Culture in 2018.
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Text Internet Pictures Internet
Sanda Foisoreanu All copyrights belong to their
respective owners Presentation Sanda Foisoreanu

2017
Sound Charles Camilleri (1931-2009) -
Summer Nights in Malta
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The Grandmasters Palace
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Valletta
National Museum of Fine Arts
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Valletta
St John's Co-Cathedral
Valletta