Palaces in Malta

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PALACES

"I dreamt I dwelt in marble halls"
From "The Bohemian Girl"

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"How lucky the prime minister can be!! His office is situated in the most beautiful baroque building. I quess [sic] I read somewhere, that the building was built for the foreign knights who didn´t have the palace of their own in Malta."

I found the above quote about the Auberge de Castile on another site and it tickled my fancy.

Each day my daughter and I went to the Grand Master's Palace (it is just down the road from Cordina's Cafe) and each day we found that it was closed. However, finally, the day before my daughter was due to leave for Rome it was open to visitors and it was crowded with tourists and their guides making the most of their opportunity.

The Neptune Courtyard, Grand Master's Palace, Valletta

The Grand Master's palace was open on only the one day while my daughter was in Malta because we were there during the celebrations of Malta's inclusion into the European Union. It was closed for business during the rest of the week as that is where the Maltese Parliament sits.

Reception Room, Grand master's Palace, Valletta

Note the wooden ceiling in the above photo. In a country where timber has always been very scarce, to own a house with timber ceilings denotes wealth and/or status because the timber had to be imported from overseas.

My photos of the main corridor were mostly very blurred and full of people but this picture of a very sad knight came out well. He is standing forlornly among a number of suits of armour which line the corridor.

Suit of Armour, Grand Master's Palace

It was almost impossible to get any pictures without including the herds of tourists, but this is the ascending half of a beautiful marble spiral staircase - I was not able to stand back far enough to include the descending part.

The Marble Spiral Staircase, Grand Master's Palace, Valletta

On our trip to the Three Cities we visited the Inquisitor's Palace in Vittoriosa. The Maltese Inquisition was apparently a much gentler organisation than the Spanish Inquisition.

Prison Cell, Inquisitor's Palace, Vittoriosa

It is a very beautiful building and a very interesting place to visit. It has recently been renovated and is very tourist-friendly with plaques explaining the various aspects of the building and how the Inquisition operated. I was particularly impressed with the kitchens, which for some reason I didn't record on camera, and which have recently been restored.

It was in the Inquisitor's Palace that we saw the portable altar, one of only two in Malta which are displayed open.

The Portable Altar, Inquisitor's Palace, Vittoriosa

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