The Inquisitor's Palace

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The Inquisitor’s Palace is one of the very few surviving buildings of its kind which was found all over Europe and South America in the early modern period. It was built in 1530 on the designs of architect Niccolò Flavari to house the Law Courts of the Order. In 1574, Mgr Pietro Dusina arrived in Malta to become the first general inquisitor and apostolic delegate of the Maltese Islands and was offered the unused palace as his official residence. Between the 16th and the 18th centuries several inquisitors made many alterations to the palace. The inquisitors all shared the same cultural values of Baroque Roman society and managed to transform the building into a typical Roman palace. Graffiti made by prisoners can still be seen in some of the cells. During the French occupation, the inquisition was abolished, and the Inquisitor’s Palace was used by high-ranking officials whilst during the British period, it was turned into a military hospital and later used as a mess house. Today it is the only Inquisitor’s Palace in the world that is still open to the public. At the Inquisitor’s Palace one finds a collection on display that portrays the salient aspects of Malta’s urban religious culture focusing particularly on the early modern period and the impact of the Inquisition on Maltese societies through the centuries. In collaboration with Kottonera Foundation.