The Roman Inquisition in Malta was run from this building for over two centuries. You can walk from its tribunal hall to its prison cells, in one of the few inquisitorial palaces left in Europe.
Palace, Birgu. Meridian Dispatch.
Travel guides give 09:00 to 17:00 every day. Heritage Malta publishes the current times for each site on its Opening Hours page, heritagemalta.mt/opening-hours, which is the page to read before a visit.
The ferry is the most direct choice. A regular service runs from the south side of Valletta to a dock in Birgu, a short walk from the palace. Bus travellers also have a stop close by.
Yes. The palace is at once a historic house museum and the national ethnography museum, and it serves as the flagship of Malta's whole ethnographic collection.
It was a church tribunal that sat in this palace in Birgu from 1574 to 1798, when the building went by the name Palazzo del Sant'Officio.
The rooms open to visitors include a kitchen cellar, a courtyard, a prison yard, the cells and a warden's room, along with the inquisitor's bedroom and a tribunal hall.
The official site of Inquisitor's Palace is heritagemalta.mt.
heritagemalta.mt →The palace was fashioned as both a sophisticated residence and a court with an austere prison complex, so you move between two kinds of room. Look for the Grand Staircase and the inquisitor's bedroom. Heritage Malta calls the building an integral part of the experience, so give the architecture as much time as the displays.
In the prison, look for the Punitive Cell and the torture room. The Roman Inquisition in Malta used torture in less than 1% of its cases.
A permanent exhibition covers Maltese religious traditions, and Heritage Malta's gallery for the palace includes Good Friday and Easter customs. The displays show how the Inquisition affected Maltese society and the part faith played in everyday life.
Cross from Valletta on the Three Cities ferry, the most scenic way over the Grand Harbour.
Book through Heritage Malta's page for the palace. A guide is optional, and the same page has a Request A Guided Tour link if you want one.
Inside, see the court and the cells first, then the inquisitor's apartments, and finish in the displays on Maltese traditions. The site has food and drinks, a gift shop and seating indoors and outdoors.
Fort St Angelo, Birgu's other major heritage site, fits on the same trip.
Expect uneven floors, low doorways and low lighting on the way round. Some areas cannot be fully reached with a mobility impairment, so read the Access Statement on the palace's official page if that affects your visit.
The same page has a gallery and a Virtual Experience of the palace, so you can judge it before setting out.
Want to sleep on the Grand Harbour itself rather than above it? Stay in Birgu: the marina is a few minutes' walk from your room, and Senglea and Cospicua are next door, within walking distance.
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