It is being proposed to insert a slit in Valletta's fortifications at City Gate.

These landward fortifications of an impregnable city have always had a gate, first Porta San Giorgio in 1566, renamed Porta Reale by GM de Verdale around 1586, and Kingsgate during the British period.

All of Valletta's designs incorporated arched entrance gates: at Porta Reale, at Porta del Monte or Porta Marina now Victoria Gate, and at the former gate facing Marsamxett Harbour, later replaced by an arch.

For obvious defence purposes, no slits in the city's walls and no square gates were envisaged, or built. Valletta is, or was originally, a Mannerist and Baroquestyle city, until adversely affected by modern war. Hence, the purity and uniformity of its design.

In my opinion, the proposed slit in the fortifications at City Gate is out of place, and does not match the style of the city of the Knights.

The ancient temple at Edfu, Egypt has slit sides, but at Valletta they are out of place.

As a person born and bred in this venerable city, I feel that Valletta's architecture needs to match its original purpose faithfully and aesthetically.