These images are probably the last opportunity to see Is-Suq tal-Belt, the old market in Valletta, as it stands now. The escalator has been blocked and the whole building on Merchants Street cordoned off before it is given a new lease of life after being entrusted to a private company. At the beginning of the year, Parliament approved the transfer of the building to Arkadia Ltd for 65 years. The company is planning to spend €7 million to redevelop the place by May next year. The transformed Valletta market will be very different from the original one. An 18th century description says that at the market near the Grand Master's Palace "all manner of provisions are bought and sold by the country people, in great abundance: such as corn and other grain, fruits and greens of all sorts, wild and tame fowl, hogs, goats, oxen, sheep and other necessaries of life". The business was so brisk that activity used to spill onto Merchant Street – where the stalls nowadays sell everything but fruit and vegetables, from the odd flashlight to underwear for all shapes and sizes. In those days, a permit to operate was required and the place was regulated by the government. In 1858, when Governor...
from timesofmalta.com http://ift.tt/1SFkOJw
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