MUZA National Community Art Museum

MUZA, the National Community Art Museum, occupies the 16th-century Auberge d'Italie on Merchants Street in Valletta, Malta, a building that once housed the Italian knights of the Order of St John. Run by Heritage Malta, the museum presents the Maltese national art collection in a sequence of galleries that move from the medieval period through the Baroque to modern and contemporary work. Visitors see paintings, sculpture, works on paper and decorative objects, with Maltese artists and artists who worked in Malta given particular prominence. The museum is designed as a community space as well as a gallery, so displays are paired with workshops, talks and temporary exhibitions that change through the year. The Baroque courtyard and the grand rooms of the auberge are part of the experience, and the architecture is worth a look in its own right, with large windows and stone detailing that suit the exhibits. A visit normally takes between one and one and a half hours, though visitors who read the labels closely or attend an event can spend longer. The building is a short walk along Merchants Street from the Republic Street axis and is easy to combine with the National Museum of Archaeology or St John's Co-Cathedral. Photography of the permanent collection is usually allowed without flash, but rules on specific loan items may differ, so visitors should follow posted signs. Crowds are modest compared with Valletta's headline sights, and weekday afternoons are reported as a calm time to visit. Standard Heritage Malta closing dates apply, including 1 January, Good Friday and 24, 25 and 31 December, and last admission is 30 minutes before closing.