Castle Map

Palace

Inquisitor's Palace

Malta · 16th century

Founded
1535
Heritage status
Grade 1
Location
Birgu
Coordinates
35.88722°, 14.52278°
Open on the map →Wikipedia ↗
Inquisitor's Palace in Malta
Photo: Mandyy88 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Description

The Inquisitor's Palace (Maltese: Il-Palazz tal-Inkwiżitur), also known as the Sacred Palace, is a palace in Birgu, Malta. It was the seat of the Maltese Inquisition from 1574 to 1798, under the name Palazzo del Sant'Officio (Sicilian: Sant'Ujfizzio di Malta). The building was originally constructed as a courthouse known as the Castellania in the early 16th century, but little remains of the original building due to major alterations and renovations carried out in the subsequent centuries.

After the inquisition was abolished during the French occupation of Malta in 1798, the palace was used for a number of purposes, including as a military hospital, a mess hall and a convent. It has been a museum since 1966, being known as the National Museum of Ethnography since 1992. The building is one of the few surviving palaces of its kind in the world, and the only one which is open to the public.

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

In the rankings

Inquisitor's Palace ranks #4,406 of 9,040 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #19 of the 39 mapped in Malta. Founded 1535, it is older than 40% of the atlas's dated landmarks, one of 887 atlas entries founded in the 16th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 1,267 times in the last 60 days, more than 57% of the atlas. 35 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. See how Malta compares in the castle statistics.

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