COSPICUA

town, eastern Malta, one of the Three Cities (the others being Senglea and Vittoriosa), at the head of Dockyard Creek, just south of Valletta across Grand Harbour. It developed as a suburb of Vittoriosa in the mid-16th century and was a thriving settlement (known as Bormla) before it was severely damaged by the Turks in the Great Siege of Malta in 1565. It was rebuilt and refortified after 1565 and benefitted economically from the shipping activities of the Hospitalers (Knights of Malta). Although many old buildings and most residential sections were destroyed in World War II, the Galley Houses of the knights, the parish church (1637), and a nearby oratory (1731) survived. There are ship-repair yards. Pop. (1990 est.) 7,838.