The Inquisitor’s Palace, sited in the heart of Vittoriosa, is one of the very few surviving examples of a style of palace that would have been found all over Europe and South America in the early modern period. Mgr Pietro Dusina arrived in Malta in 1574 as the first general inquisitor and apostolic delegate of the Maltese Islands. The Grand Master offered him the unused palace as an official resid
ence. Almost all successive inquisitors sought to transform the palace into a decent mansion. They all shared the same cultural values of clerical baroque Roman society, and by the mid-18th century they had managed successfully to transform the building into a typical Roman palace. It is now one of Heritage Malta's museums and is the flagship of the Ethnography section of the same Heritage Malta. Timeline
The following table contains some of the most important dates in the Palace’s history:
1530s-1571
The palace was erected as the civil law courts of the Order of St John
1571-1574
Remained vacant
1574
Official residence of Mgr. Pietro Dusina the first general Inquisitor and apostolic delegate of the Maltese islands
1634-1639
Inquisitor Fabio Chigi constructed the garden
1639-1645
Inquisitor Gio. Battista Gori Pannellini built a section of the prisons and the Inquisitor’s private quarters
1658-1663
Inquisitor Gerolamo Casanate altered the façade to what it is today and isolated the palace from all adjoining buildings.
1694-1698
Inquisitor Tommaso Ruffo built the apartments and the chapel
1698-1703
Inquisitor Giacinto Ferrero di Masserano constructed the other section of the prisons and rehabilitated the Piano Nobile
1731-1735
Inquisitor Gio. Franceso Stoppani built the new majestic entrance and the main staircase
French Occupation
The palace was used as the residence of the commander of the Cottonera district
British period
First used the building as a military hospital and later as a mess-house for army officers
1926
Passed into the hands of the Museums Department to form part of the Fine Arts Section
1926-1936
Curator Vincenzo Bonello gave back to the palace much of its lost dignity and respect
1942-1954
The palace was occupied by the Dominican friars since their convent and church in Vittoriosa were both destroyed by enemy bombing during WWII
1966
Back to the Museum’s Department, the palace was opened to the general public after a period of restoration in the 1960s
1981
The upper floors were transformed into a folklore museum
The Present
Now part of Heritage Malta, the Inquisitor’s Palace is the flagship of the Ethnography Section.
