Inquisitor's Palace

The Inquisitor's Palace on Triq Pawlu Boffa in Birgu (Vittoriosa), in southeastern Malta, was the seat of the Roman Inquisition's representatives on the islands from the sixteenth century until 1798. It began as a civil law court built by the Knights of St John in the mid-sixteenth century, and it was adopted as the inquisitor's residence and tribunal after the Inquisition was established in Malta in 1562. Rebuilding and extension work in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries added apartments and formal rooms, giving the building a mix of Renaissance and Baroque features. The palace is one of the few surviving inquisitors' palaces in Europe. Visitors can see the Tribunal Hall with its painted ceiling, the cells where prisoners were held, and graffiti scratched by detainees, along with the inquisitor's apartments, a chapel and a large internal courtyard. Some inquisitors who served in Malta later became popes, and portraits and furnishings help illustrate their status. After 1798 the building had several uses, including as a military mess, an officers' quarters and later a museum. Since 1966 it has operated as the National Museum of Ethnography, with displays on Maltese folk life, religion and customs alongside the history of the Inquisition. Restoration by Heritage Malta has repaired the structure and presented the rooms with period furniture and interpretation panels. The visit follows a loosely chronological route through public and private spaces, from the courtroom to the cells, so that the legal and domestic sides of the building can be compared. The palace sits close to the Collegiate Church of St Lawrence and Fort St Angelo, making it a natural part of a walking tour of the Three Cities.