The Grand Harbour ( mt, il-Port il-Kbir; it, Porto Grande), also known as the Port of Valletta, is a

natural harbour A harbor (American English), harbour (British English; see spelling differences), or haven is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be docked. The term ''harbor'' is often used interchangeably with ''port'', which is a ...

on the island of

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

. It has been substantially modified over the years with extensive docks (

Malta Dockyard Malta Dockyard was an important naval base in the Grand Harbour in Malta in the Mediterranean Sea. The infrastructure which is still in operation is now operated by Palumbo Shipyards. History Pre-1800 The Knights of Malta established dockyard ...

wharves A wharf, quay (, also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more berths (mooring location ...

, and

fortification A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

Description

The harbour mouth faces north east and is bounded to the north by Saint Elmo Point and further sheltered by an isolated

breakwater Breakwater may refer to: * Breakwater (structure), a structure for protecting a beach or harbour Places * Breakwater, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria, Australia * Breakwater Island Breakwater Island () is a small island in the Palme ...

and is bounded to the south by Ricasoli Point. Its north west shore is formed by the

Sciberras peninsula The Sciberras Peninsula is a peninsula in the South Eastern Region of Malta, between the Grand Harbour in the south and Marsamxett Harbour in the north. At its end stands the Mount Sciberras, which gave its name to the peninsula. During the Arab ...

, which is largely covered by the city of

Valletta Valletta (, mt, il-Belt Valletta, ) is an Local councils of Malta, administrative unit and capital city, capital of Malta. Located on the Malta (island), main island, between Marsamxett Harbour to the west and the Grand Harbour to the east, i ...

and its

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...

Floriana Floriana ( mt, Il-Furjana or ''Il-Floriana''), also known by its title Borgo Vilhena, is a fortified town in the South Eastern Region area of Malta, just outside the capital city Valletta. It has a population of 2,205 as of March 2014. Floriana ...

. This peninsula also divides Grand Harbour from a second parallel natural harbour,

Marsamxett Harbour Marsamxett Harbour (), historically also referred to as Marsamuscetto, is a natural harbour on the island of Malta. It is located to the north of the larger Grand Harbour. The harbour is generally more dedicated to leisure use than the Grand H ...

. The main waterway of Grand Harbour continues inland almost to Marsa. The southeastern shore of the harbour is formed by a number of inlets and headlands, principally Rinella Creek, Kalkara Creek, Dockyard Creek, and French Creek, which are covered by

Kalkara Kalkara ( mt, Il-Kalkara) is a village in the South Eastern Region of Malta, with a population of 3,014 as of March 2014. The name is derived from the Latin word for lime (Calce), and it is believed that there was a lime kiln present there sin ...

and the

Three Cities The Three Cities ( mt, It-Tlett Ibliet) is a collective description of the three fortified cities of Vittoriosa, Senglea and Cospicua in Malta. The oldest of the Three Cities is Vittoriosa, which has existed since prior to the Middle Ages. ...

Cospicua Cospicua ( mt, Bormla ), also known by its titles Città Cospicua or Civitas Cottonera, is a double-fortified harbour city in the South Eastern Region of Malta. Along with Birgu and Senglea, it is one of the Three Cities, located within the Gran ...

Vittoriosa Birgu ( mt, Il-Birgu , it, Vittoriosa), also known by its title Città Vittoriosa ("''Victorious City''"), is an old fortified city on the south side of the Grand Harbour in the South Eastern Region of Malta. The city occupies a promontory of ...

, and

Senglea Senglea ( mt, L-Isla ), also known by its title Città Invicta (or Civitas Invicta), is a fortified city in the South Eastern Region of Malta. It is one of the Three Cities in the Grand Harbour area, the other two being Cospicua and Vittorios ...

. The harbour has been described as Malta's greatest geographic asset. With its partner harbour of Marsamxett, Grand Harbour lies at the centre of gently rising ground. Development has grown up all around the twin harbours and up the slopes so that the whole bowl is effectively one large

conurbation A conurbation is a region comprising a number of metropolises, cities, large towns, and other urban areas which through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban or industrially developed area. In most ca ...

. Much of Malta's population lives within a three kilometer radius of Floriana. This is now one of the most densely populated areas in Europe. The harbours and the surrounding areas make up Malta's Northern and

Southern Harbour District Malta is for non-local government purposes divided into districts as opposed to the local government localities. The three main types of such districts – statistical, electoral at national level, and policing – have no mainstream admin ...

s. Together, these districts contain 27 of 68 local councils. They have a population of 213,722 which make up over 47% of the total population of the Maltese islands.

History

The Maltese islands have a long history, mainly due to their strategic location and natural harbours, mainly the Grand Harbour as well as Marsamxett. The Grand Harbour has been used since prehistoric times. Megalithic remains have been found on the shores of the Grand Harbour. The

Kordin Temples The Kordin Temples are a group of megalithic temples on Corradino Heights in Paola, Malta. The temples were inhabited from pre-history, by Phoenicians and then by the Greeks and Roman periods.MacGill, Thomas (1839)"A handbook, or guide, for stran ...

, the earliest of which date back to around 3700 BC, overlooked the harbour from Corradino Heights. Another megalithic structure possibly existed underwater off Fort Saint Angelo, but this can no longer be seen. Punic and Roman remains were also found on the shores of the harbour. By the 12th and 13th centuries, the '' Castrum Maris'' had been built in what is now

Birgu Birgu ( mt, Il-Birgu , it, Vittoriosa), also known by its title Città Vittoriosa ("''Victorious City''"), is an old fortified city on the south side of the Grand Harbour in the South Eastern Region of Malta. The city occupies a promontory of ...

. It might have been built instead of ancient buildings, possibly Phoenician or Roman temples, or an Arab fortress. In 1283, the

Battle of Malta The Battle of Malta took place on 8 July 1283 in the entrance to the Grand Harbour, the principal harbour of Malta, as part of the War of the Sicilian Vespers. An Aragonese fleet of galleys, commanded by Roger of Lauria, attacked and defeated ...

was fought at the entrance of the Grand Harbour. Aragonese forces defeated a larger

Angevin Angevin or House of Anjou may refer to: *County of Anjou or Duchy of Anjou, a historical county, and later Duchy, in France **Angevin (language), the traditional langue d'oïl spoken in Anjou **Counts and Dukes of Anjou * House of Ingelger, a Frank ...

force and captured 10 galleys. The Grand Harbour was the base for the

Order of Saint John The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headq ...

for 268 years, from 1530 to 1798. They settled in the city of

and improved its fortifications, including rebuilding the ''Castrum Maris'' as

Fort Saint Angelo Fort St. Angelo ( mt, Forti Sant'Anġlu or ''Fortizza Sant'Anġlu'') is a bastioned fort in Birgu, Malta, located at the centre of the Grand Harbour. It was originally built in the medieval period as a castle called the ''Castrum Maris'' ( en, Ca ...

. In July 1551, Barbary corsairs and Ottoman forces raided Malta. They landed at Marsamxett and marched upon the Grand Harbour, but did not attack as they found the town of Birgu too well fortified to attack. Although this attempt was unsuccessful, the Ottoman force later managed to sack Gozo and conquer Tripoli within the same campaign. After the attack,

Fort Saint Elmo Fort Saint Elmo ( mt, Forti Sant'Iermu) is a star fort in Valletta, Malta. It stands on the seaward shore of the Sciberras Peninsula that divides Marsamxett Harbour from Grand Harbour, and commands the entrances to both harbours along with Fort ...

and

Fort Saint Michael Fort Saint Michael ( mt, Forti San Mikiel) was a small fort in the land front of the city of Senglea, Malta. It was originally built in the 1552 and it played a significant role in the Great Siege of Malta of 1565. Following the siege, it was r ...

were built to better protect the harbour in any future attacks. The city of

was also founded soon afterwards. Later on in the 1550s, a

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...

struck the Grand Harbour, killing 600 people and destroying a shipping armada. The area was the scene of much of the fighting in the

Great Siege of Malta The Great Siege of Malta ( Maltese: ''L-Assedju l-Kbir'') occurred in 1565 when the Ottoman Empire attempted to conquer the island of Malta, then held by the Knights Hospitaller. The siege lasted nearly four months, from 18 May to 13 September ...

of 1565 when the Ottomans attempted to eject the Order of St John but were ultimately defeated. After the siege, the capital city of

was built on the Sciberras peninsula on the north west shore of the harbour. Over the years, more fortifications and settlements were founded within the Grand Harbour, including

Fort Ricasoli Fort Ricasoli ( mt, Forti Rikażli) is a bastioned fort in Kalkara, Malta, which was built by the Order of Saint John between 1670 and 1698. The fort occupies a promontory known as Gallows' Point and the north shore of Rinella Bay, commanding th ...

and the towns of

and

The New Dock at Malta, Illustrated London News, 24 October 1867

During the French occupation of Malta, the harbour area was blockaded by Maltese rebels on land and the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

at sea. The French eventually capitulated in September 1800 and Malta became a British protectorate, later a

colony In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the ''metropole, metropolit ...

. During the British colonial rule, the harbour became a strategic base for the Royal Navy and the base of the Mediterranean Fleet. HMS Rodney 1943 Malta

The whole area was savagely bombed during the Second Siege of Malta during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, as the docks and military installations around the

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...

became targets for

Axis An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to: Mathematics * Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis * Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinat ...

bombers A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped from an aircra ...

. However

collateral damage Collateral damage is any death, injury, or other damage inflicted that is an incidental result of an activity. Originally coined by military operations, it is now also used in non-military contexts. Since the development of precision guided ...

wrecked much of Valletta and The Three Cities, and caused large numbers of

civilian casualties Civilian casualties occur when civilians are killed or injured by non-civilians, mostly law enforcement officers, military personnel, rebel group forces, or terrorists. Under the law of war, it refers to civilians who perish or suffer wounds as ...

. An Italian naval raid on the harbour was repelled on the early of 26 July 1941. HMS Victorious Malta 1967

is still active but with the departure of the British Military the harbour lost much of its military significance. A considerable part of Malta's

commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

shipping Freight transport, also referred as ''Freight Forwarding'', is the physical process of transporting Commodity, commodities and merchandise goods and cargo. The term shipping originally referred to transport by sea but in American English, it h ...

is now handled by the new

free port Free economic zones (FEZ), free economic territories (FETs) or free zones (FZ) are a class of special economic zone (SEZ) designated by the trade and commerce administrations of various countries. The term is used to designate areas in which co ...

at Kalafrana, so the harbour is much quieter than it was in the first half of the 20th century. In September 2007, the Maltese Government unveiled 20 proposed regeneration projects that would revamp the area while respecting its historic value. As of May 2021 the harbour is undergoing renovation works initiated by Infrastructure Malta and sponsored by the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

with the goals of electrifying the harbour to produce a 90% decrease in harmful emissions from ships.

Shorepower Shore power or shore supply is the provision of shoreside electrical power to a ship at berth while its main and auxiliary engines are shut down.fossil fuel A fossil fuel is a hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the remains of dead plants and animals that is extracted and burned as a fuel. The main fossil fuels are coal, oil, and natural gas. Fossil fuels m ...

-powered engines to run while ships are docked.

Coordinates In geometry, a coordinate system is a system that uses one or more numbers, or coordinates, to uniquely determine the position of the points or other geometric elements on a manifold such as Euclidean space. The order of the coordinates is sig ...

Around the Grand Harbour from Fort Ricasoli to Fort St. Elmo

Giuseppe Caloriti - View of Valletta and the Three Cities

* Rinella Bay *

Bighi Royal Naval Hospital Bighi (RNH Bighi) also known as Bighi Hospital, was a major naval hospital located in the small town of Kalkara on the island of Malta. It was built on the site of the gardens of Palazzo Bichi, that was periodically known as ...

Creek **Marina Road,

**Kalkara Strand, Kalkara **Mandraġġ Strand,

Fort St. Angelo Fort St. Angelo ( mt, Forti Sant'Anġlu or ''Fortizza Sant'Anġlu'') is a bastioned fort in Birgu, Malta, located at the centre of the Grand Harbour. It was originally built in the medieval period as a castle called the ''Castrum Maris'' ( en, C ...

* Dockyard Creek or Cottonera Marina **St. Angelo Strand, Birgu **Xatt il-Forn, Birgu **Xatt ir-Risq, Birgu **Xatt San Lawrenz, Birgu ** Dock No. 1,

Bormla Cospicua ( mt, Bormla ), also known by its titles Città Cospicua or Civitas Cottonera, is a double-fortified harbour city in the South Eastern Region of Malta. Along with Birgu and Senglea, it is one of the Three Cities, located within the Grand ...

**Xatt Juan B. Azzopardi,

* French Creek **Dock No. 2 **Ghajn Dwieli Road ** Corradino **Dock No. 6 *Ras Ħanżir Point * New Port **Shipwrights Wharf, Paola **Dock No. 7 **Xatt il-Mollijiet, Albert Town **Church Wharf, Marsa * Il-Menqa **Bridge Wharf, Marsa **Flagstone Wharf / Moll iċ-Ċangatura, Marsa **Lighters Wharf / il-Moll tal-Braken, Marsa **Timber Wharf / il-Moll tal-Ħatab, Marsa **Xatt l-Għassara tal-Għeneb, Marsa *

Valletta Waterfront The Valletta Waterfront, is a promenade in Floriana, Malta, mainly featuring three prominent buildings: a church in the middle, the Pinto Stores or the ''Pinto Wharf'' on the left, and the Forni Stores or the ''Forni Shopping Complex'' on the ri ...

or Pinto Wharf,

*Lascaris Wharf,

*Xatt il-Barriera, Valletta *Taħt iż-Żiemel *

Fort St. Elmo Fort Saint Elmo ( mt, Forti Sant'Iermu) is a star fort in Valletta, Malta. It stands on the seaward shore of the Sciberras Peninsula that divides Marsamxett Harbour from Grand Harbour, and commands the entrances to both harbours along with Fort ...

Gallery

File:Malta - Valletta - Valletta Breakwater + Kalkara - Ricasoli Breakwater (MSTHC) 03 ies.jpg, Ricasoli Breakwater
Kalkara File:Sudika Fort Ricasoli.jpg,

Kalkara File:Sudika Kalkara Bighi.jpg,

Kalkara File:Malta - Birgu + Kalkara + Kalkara Creek + election celebration (Lower Barrakka Gardens) 01 ies.jpg, Kalkara Creek
Kalkara and Birgu File:Malta - Birgu - Fort Saint Angelo (Upper Barrakka Gardens) 01 ies.jpg,

Birgu File:Malta - Senglea + The Spur (Herbert Ganado Gardens) 01 ies.jpg, The Spur
Senglea File:Malta - Senglea + French Creek (Herbert Ganado Gardens) 01 ies.jpg, French Creek
Senglea, Cospicua and Paola File:Malta - Cospicua - Dock No. 4 (MSTHC) 01 ies.jpg, Dock No. 4
Cospicua File:Malta, Dry Dock.jpg, Dock No. 6 (China Dock)
Cospicua File:Malta - Marsa - Il-Moll tax-Shipwrights (MSTHC) 01 ies.jpg, Shipwrights Wharf
Paola and Marsa File:Marsa Power Station 2009.jpg, Bridge Wharf and Marsa Power Station
Marsa File:Malta - Marsa - Il-Moll tal-Braken (MSTHC) 02 ies.jpg, Braken Wharf
Marsa File:Malta - Valletta - Xatt Lascaris+SS Peter and Paul Bastion+custom house+Upper Barrakka Gardens (MSTHC) 01 ies.jpg, Xatt Lascaris
Valletta File:Fort St. Elmo; Valletta, Malta.jpg,

Valletta File:Malta - Valletta - Triq il-Lanca - St. Elmo Bridge (MSTHC) 07 ies.jpg, St. Elmo Bridge
Valletta File:Malta - Valletta - Triq il-Lanca - Valletta Breakwater (Siege Bell) 01 ies.jpg, Valletta Breakwater
Valletta

References

External links