One of Valletta’s most popular and iconic sites has unveiled an augmented experience for visitors with a broader offering than ever before.
An official ceremony held at the Piano Nobile at the Grand Master’s Palace this week inaugurated the opening of nine new halls that, until now, were inaccessible to the public.
Restoration works were carried out on the decorated wooden ceilings, frescoes and paintings, damask and painted wall coverings, as well as flooring made of both marble and flagstones.
“These rooms formed part of the Grand Master’s summer apartment, among them the drawing room and the study, the bedroom and the chapel,” says Heritage Malta of its most popular site.
“The cabinetto di curiosità, the Conventual Chaplain’s Room, and the treasury office were also opened, along with three other halls now hosting thematic exhibitions focusing on different chapters in the Palace’s history: the French period, the Order of St Michael and St George, and the Maltese Parliament, which until a few years ago was convened in this very building.”
These spaces include furniture and artefacts from the 16th to 18th centuries, which were donated to Heritage Malta earlier this year by local collector Paul Zammit as part of a donation in memory of his parents.
The Grand Master’s Palace was reopened to the public in January 2024 following the completion of the restoration project’s first phase.
The project entailed an investment of more than €40 million by the Government, €18 million of which are co-financed by the European Union as part of the European Regional Development Fund.
Photography: Pierre Sammut
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