Gran Castello Historic House

What makes it special

The museum fills a cluster of late medieval houses inside the bastion walls of the Cittadella. Each house still has its own entrance, and inside they connect through a tangle of rooms and staircases.

The houses date from the early 16th century, rare survivors from before the Knights of St John arrived. Look for the arches as you pass from room to room.

The rooms are filled with traditional farming tools, crafts and household objects that show how rural families lived on the island. Those objects sit in the rooms where such families slept, cooked and worked, so the building itself is the main exhibit. You may also see the site listed under its former name, the Folklore Museum.

Visiting

Nine minutes' walk from central Victoria brings you to the entrance on Triq Bernardo DeOpuo, a lane inside the Cittadella walls.

Inside, begin on the ground floor and mezzanine, set up as a working home with the work and living spaces of the serving staff. Room by room you pass a kitchen, bedrooms, dining rooms, storerooms, a mill-room, a study, a children's room and a washroom.

The right wing is furnished as a home of three centuries ago. Then climb to the first floor, once the families' living quarters, where an exhibition covers lace-making and weaving, with displays on cotton and traditional fishing.

Tips

If you can, plan a Wednesday between July and September, when Heritage Malta runs demonstrations in the house from 11:00 to 13:00. On those days, reach the house by late morning and save the first-floor exhibition for after the demonstration ends.