Home » Best Places to Visit and Attractions » Grandmaster’s Palace and Armoury
After 5 years of intensive restoration work, the Grandmaster’s Palace invites you to discover all its wonders and its extensive timeline of Malta’s political history, spanning over 450 years.
Originally built by the Sovereign Hospitaller Military Order Malta (more commonly known as the Knights of the Order of St. John), it has expanded and has been embellished over the centuries, while it served as their official residence. Fast-forward to the present day, it is now the office of the President of Malta, as well as an important landmark of great historical value.
As you wander around the building, you’ll notice that the Palace Halls are very impressive. Of particular interest are the unique wall paintings decorating the newly restored Palace State Rooms (including the Grandmaster’s Study/Sitting Room), the rediscovered Uccelliera, the Piano Nobile corridors, the Tapestry Hall, the Throne Room, the Pages’ Room, the Ambassadors’ Room, the Two Courtyards, as well as the intricately decorated marble floors and the original coffered ceiling.
The site also includes the Palace Armoury; a series of halls that hold a collection of breathtaking mediaeval artefacts related to a time of war that shaped the history of the islands and the Mediterranean.
Following the restoration of the Palace, a visitor’s centre has also been added in the area known as Palazzo del Monte.
You can buy tickets directly from the ticket office at the entrance, but if you plan on doing more sightseeing, consider saving on entrance fees by getting a Malta Heritage & Attraction Pass.
They give you access to dozens of Malta’s best museums and attractions. Less hassle, lower fees!
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The Grandmaster’s Palace was the first location to serve as the office of the Prime Minister. Before that, it had served as the Governor’s Palace during the British period and was the seat of Malta’s first constitutional parliament in 1921. The Palace subsequently became the seat of Malta’s Legislative Assembly set up in 1947, Malta’s first Parliament following its Independence in 1964, and the House of Representatives till 2015. As of now, it is currently serving as the office of the President of Malta.
The Grandmaster’s Palace was built between 1571 and 1580 on designs made by Maltese Architect Girolamo Cassar. At the time, it was known as the Magisterial Palace. Several houses were altered and joined together to be transformed into the Palace we see today. These included the auberge of the Langue of Italy and the house of the knight Eustachio del Monte, nephew of Grandmaster Pierre de Monte.
The Council of the Order purchased these buildings to construct a palace for the Grandmaster who had decided to move the Order’s headquarters to Valletta. Del Monte died and was succeeded by Grand Master Jean de la Cassière who continued the works. The Palace was enlarged over the years by successive Grandmasters.
For example, the spiral staircase was commissioned by Grandmaster Verdalle in the late 16th century (with shallow steps because the Grand Master had gout). The balconies around the front were closed up. Grandmaster Pinto embellished the façade, adding two Baroque gateways and the clock in 1745, an amazing piece of craftsmanship with four bronze Moorish slave figures holding hammers that shift sideways when striking the gongs.
Surrounding two courtyards (one known as the Neptune Courtyard and the other as Prince Alfred’s Courtyard), the Grandmaster’s Palace has three entrances in total. Two entrances are on the front in Republic Street and one side entrance from Old Theatre Street.
Architect Ġirolamo Cassar designed the outside of the Grandmaster’s Palace in the simple Mannerist style of that period. However, as the years went by, changes and alterations were made to the façade, such as the cornice at roof level, the ornate portal which supports the open balcony and the long closed timber balconies, all added in the 18th century.
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Once you purchase the entrance ticket from the ticket sales desk, you’re invited to start your visit from the State Rooms. You will reach them via a staircase in the courtyard. Once you climb up, you’ll find yourself in a long corridor decorated with naval battle scenes, trompe l’oeil paintings, blue colours and the portraits of various Grandmasters.
The Council Chamber is the first hall on the left and here you’ll find 17th-century tapestries hanging from ceiling to floor, a gift to the Order by Grandmaster Ramon Perellos.
Next are the State Dining Room and the Supreme Council Hall, or The Throne Room as it is known today. This hall, built by Grandmaster Jean de la Cassière, was used for Supreme Council meetings and also to host visiting high-ranking dignitaries and visiting ambassadors.
During their time in Malta, the British administration transformed the Throne Room into the Hall of Saint Michael and Saint George. Today, it is being used by the President of Malta for state functions. Artist Matteo Perez d’Aleccio decorated the hall with paintings representing events and past glories of the Knights against the Ottoman Turks during the Great Siege of 1565.
The Minstrels’ Gallery has paintings showing scenes from the Book of Genesis. Artist Giuseppe Calì created the coat of arms of Grandmaster Jean de Vallette that you can see on the wall recess behind the Minstrels’ Gallery. In 1818, Lieutenant-Colonel George Whitmore designed neo-classical architectural features to cover the walls of this hall but these additions were taken off again in the 20th century.
At the far end of the hall, a door gives access to the Hall of the Ambassadors, known as the Red State Room. Here, important visitors were received by the Grandmaster and the Maltese President still receives foreign envoys today. Portraits of several Grand Masters, the Russian empress Catherine the Great and the French kings Louis XIV, Louis XV and Louis XVI can be found in this room.
The neighbouring Pages’ Room, or Yellow State Room was used by the Grandmaster’s 16 attendants and now serves as a conference room.
The former meeting place of the Council of the Order of St John is today known as the Tapestry Chamber. It holds an amazing tapestry set made to measure for this chamber by the Gobelins Royal Factory in France. It features exotic scenes of India, Africa, Brazil and the Caribbean, with an ostrich, elephants, a cassowary and a flamingo, a zebra and a rhino being attacked by a leopard, a tapir, palm trees, a jaguar and an iguana.
It was a gift of Valencian Grandmaster Ramon Perellos y Rocaful (1697-1720). The collection is known as the Teintre des Indes and was completed in 1710. The work was inspired by designs presented to King Louis XIV of France in 1679 by the Dutch Prince Johan Maurtiz featuring exotic plants and animals.
This is the only known surviving set of tapestries still complete from the few sets of Teintures des Indes produced.
The Palace Armoury is chock-full of the things you would expect to find in an armoury – crossbows, swords, pistols, large guns and even larger cannons. But what really impresses here is the splendid collection of mediaeval body armour with a variety of styles according to the country of origin of the owners of these metal vests.
Highlights of the collection include the richly decorated suits of armour once belonging to high-ranking Knights and also armour belonging to their horses. The most eye-catching of these are enclosed in a glass display in the centre of the hall and include the following:
The multilingual audio guide explains in detail every piece on display. You will learn about the different types of body protection commonly in use during various periods that span 300 years of military history.
Some examples include mail armoury constructed from interlinked metal rings that was used in earlier periods, rare Brigandine armour; made from small overlapping steel plates, fine specimens of very rare, early 16th-century armour like the splendid Italian sallet helmet from around 1500 and other later Italian, German, French and Spanish pieces (the principal arms production centres).
Part of the former armoury collection includes fine examples of Turkish armour from the Great Siege era.
Grand Master Alof de Wignacourt had transferred the arsenal to the palace in 1604. Originally, the armoury, which contained a collection far greater than it does today, was housed in a hall directly above its present location (originally the stables of the Palace). Then in 1975, the Malta House of Representatives replaced the original armoury and the entire collection was transferred to the ground floor.
After Napoleon conquered Malta in 1798, he took the greater part of the collection back to France. However, despite this loss, the Palace Armoury is still considered to be one of the world’s greatest arms collections housed in their original buildings.
Within Prince Alfred’s Courtyard, you can catch a glimpse of a remarkable clock commissioned in 1745 by Grandmaster Manoel Pinto de Fonseca. Its mechanism is the work of renowned Maltese clockmaker Gaetano Vella. The clock has four faces, with the middle one showing the hour and the others showing the month, day and lunar phase. The upper turret features four bronze figures representing Turkish slaves striking the clock bells.
The Grandmaster’s Palace and Armoury are located right in the centre of Valletta, in St George’s Square. This means you can take a bus from pretty much anywhere around the island (or drive there yourself – all roads lead to Valletta, more or less).
After getting off near City Gate you’ll need a 15-minute straight down Republic Street to get to the Palace Square in front of the building.
Edward is the Founder and Editor of Malta Uncovered and author of two guidebooks on Malta and Valletta.
As a tourist-turned-expat with Maltese roots, he knows the islands inside out and helps thousands of visitors enjoy a memorable trip every year.
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