A section of the hidden tunnels and sally ports leading from Valletta to the ditch below City Gate (il-Foss) will be temporarily opened to the public as part of a European architecture festival taking place over the coming days.

The European Architecture Student Assembly (EASA) festival kicks off today and runs until August 15, bringing together 500 students and world renowned architects from all over Europe.

“When the Knights built Valletta, they created a whole series of underground connections across the whole city,” EASA Malta chairman Karl Ebejer said, explaining the choice of location yesterday.

“We believe the public should be given the opportunity to visit these unique spaces. It is also a message to the government that we can’t just let them sit there unused.”

Works continue to prepare the interior of a tunnel.

For the duration of the festival, the Valletta ditch will be transformed into a bustling architecture village, with participants living on site and working at a number of workshops and construction projects.

The public will have the opportunity to visit the ditch and observe workshops in progress on open days August 7 and 8 and also see the final results at the festival’s close on August 15. A portion of the workshops will be dedicated to direct involvement with the public, through the collaboration of local artisans and the creation of pavilions and installations to serve as points of interest.

The event will include a series of lectures by renowned international architects, including Antonio Belvedere, from the office of Renzo Piano, and Bob Lang, a director at Arup, a leading multinational design and engineering firm.

Also giving lectures are Konrad Buhagiar, founding partner of Architecture Project, and Indira van’t Klooster, editor-in-chief of A10, the European architecture magazine.

The lectures are open to the public and will take place between August and 13 at Pjazza Teatru Rjal.

Planning Authority chairman Vince Cassar praised the opening of Valletta’s underground spaces to the public and highlighted the importance of quality and innovation in architecture.

EASA is an annual event started by students and tutors of the Liverpool University in 1981 as a means of bringing talented students together to address issues facing the profession and the environment. This is the second time it is being held in Malta, having been hosted at Manoel Island in 1998.