Great Siege Monument

The Great Siege Monument in Valletta commemorates the Ottoman siege of Malta in 1565, during which the Knights of St. John and the Maltese population held out against overwhelming odds. Sculptor Antonio Sciortino rendered three bronze allegorical figures — Faith, Fortitude, and Civilization — mounted on a granite base, and the monument was inaugurated on 8 May 1927. In recent decades the site has gained a second, charged identity: it became the principal public memorial to assassinated investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, with supporters continuously placing flowers and protest placards at its base, making it a quiet focal point for debates around press freedom and justice in Malta.