Grand Master's Palace

Grand Master's Palace rises over a busy square in Malta’s new capital, marking the first major building raised by the Knights of St John. Its stone corridors and marble interiors show how an early construction grew into a centre of political and religious power. Grand masters, British governors, parliaments and presidents have all used these rooms for ceremonies and decisions. Restored state rooms display illusionistic Baroque ceilings and vivid paintings of the Great Siege of 1565 by Matteo Perez d’Aleccio.

The piano nobile contains the Grand Master’s study, throne room, pages’ room and ambassadors’ room. A rediscovered uccelliera, once a birdhouse, survives among these formal spaces. The Palace Armoury brings together suits of armour, Ottoman weapons and historic artillery. Armour associated with Jean de Valette and Alof de Wignacourt gives the collection a direct link to Malta’s military past. Walk through the halls and you encounter a building shaped by the Order, British rule and Malta’s own political life.