Annual Seminar at the Malta Maritime Museum

The Friends of Heritage Malta’s Malta Maritime Museum will be organizing their annual seminar on Sunday 16^th June.

As in the past years, the seminar will be held at the St Angelo Hall at the Malta Maritime Museum in Vittoriosa and will feature three speakers who have distinguished themselves in the field of Maltese maritime history.

The first of the three speakers, former curator Antonio Espinosa Rodriguez, will be speaking about “The 1888 Spanish Naval Training Squadron’s Visit to Malta” while Professor Stanley Fiorini and Stephanie Said will deliver interesting insights into “The Mahras or coastal watch of Gozo before 1530” and “Recording traditional vessels” respectively.

The seminar will be held between 09.30hrs and 12.00hrs. Those with an interest in Maltese cultural heritage, and particularly in the islands’ rich maritime history, are encouraged to attend. Admission is free of charge.

For more information one should call the Malta Maritime Museum on 21809090 or visit the official Facebook page.

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Inquisitor’s Palace to Open for Free on Public Holiday

In its ongoing mission to make the sites and museums entrusted to it more accessible to the general public, Heritage Malta will once again be organizing an Open Day and this time the site which will open its doors to the public for free is the Inquisitor’s Palace in Vittoriosa.

The Inquisitor’s Palace, is one of the very few surviving examples of a 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 residence. 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. The palace is the flagship of the Ethnography section of Heritage Malta.

During the Open Day, the public will be able to visit the different parts of the Palace including the tribunal where the accused were sentenced, the torture chamber, the piano nobile and the prison cells featuring graffiti carved by prisoners. Coupled with its extremely rich history, the Inquisitor’s Palace is also an architectural jewel which fuses different styles of architecture marking the changes made to the building during the occupation by the different Inquisitors. It is one of the very few surviving palaces of its kind and the only one accessible to the public world wide.

Those visiting the Inquisitor’s Palace for free on the 7^th of June will also have the opportunity of purchasing a number of Heritage Malta publications at a reduced price as well as benefit from a 10% discount on new memberships. During the Open Day, Heritage Malta will also be opening the Malta Maritime Museum at a reduced rate of €3 for adults and €2.50 for concessions.

Over 3,500 visit the Malta Maritime Museum during “Life at Sea”

Over 3,500 people visited the Malta Maritime Museum during the annual “Life at Sea” event organized by Heritage Malta in collaboration with the European Commission and the Government of Malta as part of the European Maritime Day celebrations.

The thousands of visitors who flocked to the museum had the opportunity to walk through part of the Traditional Maltese Boats collection which the Malta Maritime Museum has saved for posterity in recent years.

Museum exhibits were brought to life with the help of re-enactors, historians and curators who were at hand to provide fresh insight into Malta’s unique maritime past and introduce the visitors to various 16^th and 18^th century characters.

The re-enactors showed hand to hand fighting tactics and artillery maneuvers.  For the first time at the museum 35 armour clad knights clashed against each other demonstrating the rough life at the quay side in Birgu in the 16^th century.

18th century Maltese coffee, pies and heart warming chicken stew cooked according to 18th century recipes were on sale from the tavern set-up purposely for this occasion. Those who visited the museum also had the opportunity of visiting the recently restored Clock Tower which has been brought back to life after a long and accurate study.

While visiting the event Parliamentary Secretary for Culture and Local Government, Dr José Herrera stated that “Heritage Malta in the past few years has invested greatly to develop museums such as the Malta Maritime Museum while further improving the interpretation and expanding the site’s footprint. Events such as this help to remind us that our heritage is not simply the permanent exhibitions we find in the various museums. By means of the creative element different types of interpretation are being offered which bring together the educational and the entertainment aspects. This is another initiative by which the government is keeping its promise to make these museums and sites more accessible to the general public”.

Heritage Malta Acting CEO, Mr. Kenneth Gambin remarked that this year’s Life at Sea was also part of the programme to celebrate Heritage Malta’s tenth anniversary. On this occasion Heritage Malta is also investing heavily in the infrastructure of the museum, including the restoration of the lateral facades and of the tower clock of the building, which was a prominent feature in the harbour life of the 19^th century.

The “Life at Sea” event marked yet another great success in a series of events organized by Heritage Malta in the recent months. The next event is a sleepover at the National Museum of Natural History this coming Friday 24^th May.

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A Night at the Museum

Heritage Malta will be celebrating the European Night of Museums on the 24^th May by welcoming visitors for a night of special activities at the National Museum of Natural History in Mdina.

If anyone was wondering how he should spend the night of Friday 24^th May, Heritage Malta has an unusual solution to the problem. The lucky few who manage to book on time will have the opportunity to spend a night at the National Museum of Natural History and participate in a number of special activities and tours.

The event will start at 20.00hrs with a night tour of the museum collections. After a short break, the participants will be taken on a visit to the reference collection housed in the museum and view work which goes on behind the scenes on these collections.

A lecture with a visual presentation till late at night with discussions and views led by the museum’s senior curator will follow. The discussions will focus mainly on the 40 years since the museum was housed at the Palazzo Vilhena in Mdina. The final event, after a short rest, will be an experience of sunrise over Mdina as seen from the roof of the museum. The experience will come to an end with breakfast at 8.00am.

Tickets, on first come first served basis, can be purchased from all Heritage Malta sites & museums at €15 for adults and concessions & youths (12+ years) at €12. For more information one can call on 21454125 or follow the event on the museum’s Facebook page.

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