NAM.2023-11-18-1-1

Photograph showing some external city walls of Valletta, with an arched bridge spanning the ditch leading to the City Gate (Porta Reale), Malta, 1854 (c). Image by brothers-in-law James Robertson and Felice Beato, who worked in partnership and visited Malta in 1854 and 1856. An architectural gate can be seen at the right hand side of the bridge. This gate leading into the city was the third incarnation, designed by Col. Thompson of the Royal Engineers during the British Rule. It consisted of two central arches with two smaller ones. There were two statues on either side of the gate: one of Philippe Villiers de L'Isle-Adam, the first Grand Master in Malta, and one of Jean Parisot de Valette, the founder of the city. From a photograph album of 70 images compiled by Gen Sir George Whitmore, Colonel Commandant of the Royal Engineers in Malta, between 1811 and 1829; photographs include Malta, Gibraltar, Constantinople and the Crimea, 1850s-1880s; with some taken by James Robertson, Felice Beato and Roger Fenton. Sir George Whitmore was also an architect, designing buildings in Malta and Greece.