Castle Map

Palace

Girgenti Palace

Malta · 17th century

Founded
1625
Heritage status
Grade 1
Location
Siġġiewi
Coordinates
35.85117°, 14.40683°
Links
Wikimedia Commons
Open on the map →Wikipedia ↗
Girgenti Palace in Malta
Photo: Michele Agius · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Description

Girgenti Palace (Maltese: Palazz tal-Girgenti) is a palace near Siġġiewi, Malta. It was built in 1625 as the summer residence of Malta's inquisitor, and is therefore also known as the Inquisitor's Palace (Maltese: Palazz tal-Inkwiżitur). It is now an official residence of the Prime Minister of Malta.

Girgenti Palace was built in 1625 as the summer residence of Inquisitor Onorato Visconti, on a strip of land confiscated from Matteo Falzon (Maltese: Matti Falzun), who had been condemned as a heretic. Falzon was not accused alone as also Cleric Wenzu Falzon had been accused with him of witchcraft. Wenzu self-exiled in France where he continued a life against church teaching and Matteo went into hiding in Sicily. Both were sentenced in absentia by the inquisition with representative ‘corps’. No property was taken from Wenzu as he had nothing of real value left behind. Matteo remained known by the locals as the "Falzon Wizard" (Maltese: is-Saħħar Falzun).

A chapel dedicated to St Charles Borromeo was built near the palace in 1763 by Inquisitor Angelo Maria Durini. The palace was included on the Antiquities List of 1925.

The palace remained the summer residence of the inquisitors until 1798, when the Inquisition was abolished during the French occupation of Malta. It was subsequently used as a summer residence for the Lieutenant-Governors of Malta. In World War II, some of the collections of the Palace Armoury were stored at Girgenti Palace for safekeeping.

The palace was left abandoned until it was restored between 1988 and 1990, and converted into the summer residence of the Prime Minister of Malta.

The palace is occasionally open to the public.

Both the palace and chapel are listed on the National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands.

The palace has a simple layout, with its rooms arranged in a rectilinear layout. It has a plain façade, with few decorative elements.

Text adapted from “Girgenti Palace” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

In the rankings

Girgenti Palace ranks #8,356 of 9,902 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #41 of the 41 mapped in Malta. Founded 1625, it is older than 29% of the atlas's dated landmarks, one of 755 atlas entries founded in the 17th century. 38 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. See how Malta compares in the castle statistics.

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