From its opening in 1866 it remained the cultural centre of Malta until 1942 when it suffered extensive damage during a bombing raid. In the very centre is the site of the Royal Opera House, in its heyday a landmark building designed by British architect Edward Middleton Barry who is best known for designing Covent Garden Theatre. "33c a day to get opera house back." Times of Malta, 25 February 2010.When is an opera house not a house at all? Well, a visit to the centre of Malta's capital city Valletta will soon answer the question. Sesto Florentino (Fi): Centro Stampa Editoriale (Plurigraf), 2003. "Barry, Edward Middleton (1830-1880)." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Many people would like to see it rebuilt on the same lines as the original.
The latest idea is for an open-air theatre, but there is also a plan to raise funds for a fine state-of-the-art 800-seat theatre with a roof (Johnston). So far, proposals to rebuild it have been unsuccessful fortunately, so has the proposal to turn the area into a multi-storey car park. Jesmond Grech writes that "it gave an invaluable boost to the artistic and cultural lives of the Maltese" (41). Rightly numbered among his "distinguished works" (Burnet and Blissett), the building had over a thousand seats and was in a very prominent position just inside the city gate at the top of Republic Street: it must have been extraordinarily impressive. Īfter his success with the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, Barry was asked to design a similarly grand opera house for the capital of Malta, Valletta. Photograph, caption, and commentary by Jacqueline Banerjee, 2010. Steps to the Royal Opera House, Valletta, Malta.
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