Grandmaster's Palace

The Grandmaster's Palace (Maltese: Il-Palazz tal-Granmastru), officially known as The Palace (Maltese: Il-Palazz), is a palace in Valletta, Malta. It was built between the 16th and 18th centuries as the palace of the Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller, who ruled Malta from 1530 to 1798, and was also known as the Magisterial Palace (Maltese: Palazz Maġisterjali). When the knights were expelled by Napoleonic France, it became the National Palace. During the period of British rule beginning in 1800, it was the Governor's Palace (Maltese: Palazz tal-Gvernatur).

The palace became a British royal residence with various governors representing the monarchy and the queen, and with the royal family itself. As an official royal residence it was often used by British sovereigns for major events during their stay in Malta.

The Palace currently houses the Office of the President of Malta. It was also the seat of the Parliament of Malta from 1921 to 2015. Parts of the building, namely the Palace State Rooms and the Palace Armoury are open to the public as a museum run by Heritage Malta. The building underwent a major restoration project and was reopened to the public in 2024.

Text adapted from “Grandmaster's Palace, Valletta” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Grandmaster's Palace ranks #575 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #2 of the 19 mapped in Malta. Founded c. 1650, it is older than 26% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 580 atlas entries founded in the 17th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 6,390 times in the last 60 days, more than 88% of the atlas. 16 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. See how Malta compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗