Republic Street, Valletta
| Triq ir-Repubblika | |
Republic Street
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| Former name(s) | Rue Nationale Strada Reale Kingsway |
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| Maintained by | Transport Malta, Valletta Local Council |
| Length | 1.0 km (0.6 mi) |
| Location | Valletta, Malta |
| Coordinates | 35°54′00″N 14°30′47″E / 35.9000136°N 14.5131579°ECoordinates: 35°54′00″N 14°30′47″E / 35.9000136°N 14.5131579°E |
| Other | |
| Known for | City Gate, Parliament of Malta, Courts of Justice, Auberge de Provence, Palazzo Ferreria, La Borsa |
Republic Street (Maltese: Triq ir-Repubblika) is a principal street in the capital city of Valletta, Malta. It is about 1 kilometer long (0.6 miles) and is known for legislative, judiciary and commercial purposes. It is mostly pedestrianised.
After the Great Siege of Malta, Valletta was planned and built on a grid's layout by the Order of St. John, with Republic Street (back then, Strada San Giorgio) in the midst, to become the main street of the city.
The street has had several different names over the course of history. During the Order of St. John it was known Strada San Giorgio, during the French occupation of Malta it was named Rue Nationale, during the Crown colony of Malta it was named Strada Reale, and during the period of the Anglicisation of Malta under Prime Minister Sir Gerald Strickland the street was named Kingsway in 1836. Soon after Independence Day, in 1974, the Maltese renamed the street to its current official name of Triq ir-Repubblika, while colloquially still referred to as Strada Rjali The street holds affinity with City Gate, which stands at its start, and the naming generally goes hand in hand, with names such as Porta Reale, Porte Nationale and Kingsway
The street was always a prime real estate location; in the early 1800s two of the most expensive buildings in Valletta, were on Republic Street (the Efner building and Spinola Palace - the latter being the current headquarters of the Lombard Bank).
Being in the heart of one of the most important cities in Malta, Republic Street, together with the rest of the surrounding region, was heavily bombed and sufferred a great deal of damage during World War II.
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