This garden perches on the bastion edge overlooking the entrance to Grand Harbour, commanding a superb viewpoint from the harbour mouth over to Fort Ricasoli, Bighi Palace, Fort St Angelo and the creeks of Vittoriosa and Kalkara.

Among the trees stands a monument for Sir Alexander Ball, one of the leaders of the Maltese insurgents against the French in the 1798 uprising. When the French surrendered and the British annexed Malta, Alexander Ball was to become the first British Governor of Malta.

On the basement floor of the Grandmaster’s Palace is the Armoury, one of the largest collections of its kind in the world, though reduced to a fraction of its former size by the depredations of the French. Among its principal treasures are a suit of armour made in Milan for the Grand Master, Adrien de Wignacourt (1690-97) and a full-length panoply made for Grand Master Martin Garzes by Sigismund Wold of Landshut.

The so called fosse or grain silos were dug in the rock at the time of the Order as part of the military strategy to store
grain for use in case of a siege.

The fossos are bell-shaped reservoirs, each covered with a large stone cap, some circular; others sqaurish, carefully
sealed with mortar when full of wheat, thus serving the purpose to store grain in a dry environment and easy to access.
The surface between each capstone is covered in stone slabs.

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The National Library of Malta (also, Bibliotheca) began in 1555. It is currently the legal deposit and copyright for Malta. Its collection spans the personal libraries of the Knights of Malta (also the archives and treasury manuscripts of that order), including archives from the medieval Università dei Giurati of Mdina and Valletta.

Stefano Ittar, a Polish-born architect residing in Italy, completed the designs to Grand Master de Rohan’s specifications. The building, situated in the heart of Malta’s capital city, was completed in 1796 but two years later the Order of St. John was expelled from Malta by Napoleon and during the French 2-year period, the books remained at their former premises. It was only in 1812 – during the British administration – that the new premises were officially inaugurated by the British Civil Commissioner, Sir Hildebrand Oakes.

Fort St Elmo, at the tip of the peninsula, was designed to protect the entrance to Grand Harbor. It was built in 1553 under the Spanish Grand Master, Juan de Homedes (1536-63), incorporating parts of a medieval Spanish fortress, which itself had succeeded an earlier Norman fortification on the same site.

Fort St Elmo was destroyed during the 1565 Siege and rebuilt at the time of the foundation of Valletta. During the World War II it successfully repelled a German naval attack.

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On the south side of Great Siege Square is the famous “St John’s Co-Cathedral (I673-77), one of Europe’s finest churches, designed by Gerolamo Cassar, the first architect of the Order of St John. Dedicated to St John the Baptist, it was built at his own expense by the French Grand Master, Jean l’Evêque de la Cassière as the conventual church of the Order. In 1816 Pope Pius VII granted it the status of Co-Cathedral, ranking equal with Mdina Cathedral.

The facade, flanked by two square Renaissance towers, is relatively austere, and the doorway, surmounted by a balcony on which the Grand Masters presented themselves to the Knights after their election, is also very modest.

St James’ Church in Valletta was originally built in 1612 to serve the knights of Castile et Leon and rebuilt by Giovanni Barbara in 1710. The oval plan, rich detail on its narrow facade and ornate carvings above the central window are redolent of Roman Baroque. In 1663 it was the focus of a religious scandal involving dark implications of satanic rituals.

Near the Auberge de Castille, on Merchants Street in Valletta, is the 18th century Palazzo Parisio which has a three-story Neo-Classical facade. Napoleon Bonaparte stayed here briefly after taking Valletta on June 11, 1798.

Today it is the home of the Ministry of Commonwealth and Foreign Affairs.