The Valletta Royal Opera House was laid to rest in the 1950s, that is, until one Maltese man decided to recreate it using a video game editor and the results are unreal.

Matthew Pace spent countless hours and, close to 15,000 objects, to recreate some of Valletta’s lost architectural gems, including the iconic Opera House, and he’s uploaded it all online so you can have a virtual tour…

The Royal Opera House was designed by English architect Edward Middelton Barry and was unveiled in 1866.

A neo-classical building in a Baroque city, it was directly hit during a bombing raid in 1942, during WW2.

“I remember seeing the ruins of the Royal Opera House every time I walked into Valletta with my grandparents and wondering what this building must have looked like when it still stood at the entrance of the city,” Pace said.

But wondering turned into work and Pace utilised what had been documented about the once-glorious Opera House to piece together the building using Far Cry 5’s arcade editor.

“I wanted to recreate the experience of visiting the opera house sometime between 1925 and 1935 using the Far Cry 5 Arcade editor and whatever photos and floor plans I could find.”

When images failed him, Pace took to his imagination and recreated inside floor plans according to what he could piece together, the end result being as close to reality as we could ever imagine.

“The downside is that I was limited to the objects and textures available within the editor. For example, I was able to cobble together traditional Maltese balconies using a combination of shed doors and window shutters, but most buildings lack a texture comparable to Maltese Globigerina limestone.”

Pace started with the Opera House but his curiosity led him to discover other forgotten architectural gems in Malta’s capital, including the Valletta Railway Station…

Now, the iconic buildings and sights of 20th century Valletta have once again been brought to life through a 3D render and everyone can get a feel of what it was like to be roaming around Malta’s capital in the early 20th century.

Tag someone who loves Maltese architecture