Mdina Cathedral Museum

What makes it special

The museum sits inside the walls of Mdina, and its best-known pieces are a series of woodcuts by Albrecht Dürer. A Goya etching and Baroque paintings hang in the same collection. St John's in Valletta has nothing like this material.

Look for the St Paul Polyptych, painted in the 14th century. It once stood as the main altarpiece of the medieval cathedral.

Antonio Arrighi's Apostolato, a set of silver statues of the Apostles, has rooms of its own. They share the space with the antique collection amassed by Jimmy Farrugia, a former Speaker of Malta's parliament, and given to the museum. A separate room shows Roman mosaics found beneath the cathedral crypt.

Visiting

At the museum's entrance on Archbishop's Square you buy your ticket. The cathedral has its own entrance next door. The cloakroom is limited, so travel light.

Inside, the rooms show sacred art, relics, portraits and documents. Named rooms include the Maltese Room and the John Bugeja Caruana Picture Gallery. Others hold a wax collection, a Neapolitan crib and the Bell Room.

Ramps and lifts reach most galleries, and museum staff are on hand to help. Accessible toilets are on site.

Tips

Non-flash photography is allowed in most galleries. Tripods, professional equipment and video setups need approval from the Museum Office first. Visitors report that photography without flash is also allowed in the cathedral.

The museum has no café of its own, but Mdina's cafés and restaurants are a short walk away.

A walk through Mdina can join the museum to Palazzo Falson, the 13th-century house museum once called Norman House, and to the bastions with their views over central Malta.

If you drive, cars may enter the lanes only with a permit or to drop off. Park outside Mdina Gate by the playground, in the Mdina ditch or in front of Domus Romana.