Valletta [key], city (1994 est. pop. 9,129), capital of Malta, NE Malta. It is strategically located on a rocky promontory between two deep harbors. Dockyards line the harbors and employ more workers than any other industry. Tourism is also an important industry. A 16th-century town, with many relics of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem (the Knights Hospitalers, or Knights of Malta), Valletta contains a 16th-century cathedral, the old governor's palace, the Royal Univ. (1769), a National Museum of Fine Arts, and a library with a museum of antiquities. The city was severely damaged by air raids in World War II.
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