A photo uploaded by Simons Cusens shows Valletta like many alive today have never seen it before.

The photo shows Republic Square in Valletta but instead of being home to picturesque cafeterias like it is today, the square was pretty much in ruins.

This means that the photo was taken some time in either 1941 or 1942 after an air raid from the axis during World War II that directly hit Valletta.

However, what is so impressively remarkable about this photo is the statue of Queen Victoria somehow escaped all the bombs and was barely touched let alone destroyed.

Sculpted by, Giuseppe Valenti, the statue was placed in the square in Valletta in 1891 and depicts Queen Victoria wearing a Maltese lace shawl.

The statue itself still remains a hot topic in Malta to this very day. For the duration of The Malta Biennale being held this March, Maltese artist Austin Camilleri sculpted an exact replica of the seat on which Queen Victoria sits on. The chair was sculpted from limestone quarried before Malta became a republic in the year 1974. According to ‘Austin Camilleri Studio’, the Maltese artist “created a work that would haunt our present, functioning as medium to the past”.

The Queen Victoria statue sure has a rich history!