City Gate (Malta)

City Gate
Bieb il-Belt
View of City Gate
General information
Status	Complete
Type	Gate
Location	Valletta, Malta
Coordinates	35°53′46″N 14°30′33″E / 35.89611°N 14.50917°E / 35.89611; 14.50917Coordinates: 35°53′46″N 14°30′33″E / 35.89611°N 14.50917°E / 35.89611; 14.50917
Construction started	2011
Completed	2014
Owner	Government of Malta
Technical details
Material	Limestone and steel
Design and construction
Architect	Renzo Piano

City Gate (Maltese: Bieb il-Belt, literally "Door to 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.

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 gate was renamed Porta Reale (Maltese: Putirjal) in around 1586, before being rebuilt in 1633, probably to designs of Tommaso Dingli. It was briefly renamed Porte Nationale during the French occupation of Malta in 1798, but its name reverted to Porta Reale when Malta fell under British rule in 1800. In 1853, this was once again replaced by a larger gate, which was also known as Kingsgate. These first three gates were all fortified, forming part of Valletta's city walls. The gate was also informally called the Porta di terra (meaning "land gate") since it was the only landward approach to the city.

The last fortified gate was demolished in 1964, being replaced by a Futurist 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.

City Gate is located within the Porta Reale Curtain, a curtain wall at the centre of the Valletta Land Front, located between St. James' and St. John's Bastions. A bridge spanning across Valletta's deep ditch leads to the gate. The gate was originally protected by a couvre porte, an advanced ditch and a lunette known as St. Madeleine's Lunette. During British rule, the lunette was demolished and part of the advanced ditch was filled in. The site was later occupied by the bus terminus, with the Triton Fountain at the centre. As of 2016, there are plans to turn the square around the fountain into a pedestrian area.