Palace Armoury

Being knights, they often got into scuffles and so needed weapons. These were kept in the Armoury at the Grandmaster’s Palace and oddly enough, they still are!

The Knights Hospitallers of the Order of St John of Jerusalem, to give them their Sunday-best name, only grudgingly came to Malta in 1530 when they were given the Island as their new home after they lost Rhodes to the Ottomans. Little did they realise they would henceforth become more closely associated with this island and better-known as the Knights of Malta.

Rhodes’ loss was Malta’s gain as the Knights embarked on numerous infrastructural and military projects to create an island fortress that would serve, as it historically did, as a mighty stronghold against any threat to Christianity in Europe.

The Knights gave Malta a unique and illustrious chapter to add to her history, a chapter sadly written in the blood of their Order and of the Maltese people who fell in the many sea and land skirmishes with the Turks – particularly the Great Siege of 1565. Soon after this famous battle, which the Maltese won, the Knights created a new and magnificent city called Valletta, named after their Grandmaster who had led them through the siege, Jean Parisot de la Vallette.

To be able to sustain such a military stance, the Knights needed to have a well-stocked, professionally-run, state-of-the-art armoury. Once the new Grandmaster’s Palace was completed in Valletta in 1604, the armoury was moved from Vittoriosa, where the knights previously had their headquarters. Today this building is the Presidential Palace and the armoury is still there, albeit in a different room!

Back in the Knights’ hay day, the armoury had enough weapons for 25,000 men. But during the Napoleonic occupation at the end of the 18^th century, a considerable amount of these arms were taken by the French troops.

In 1900, during British rule, Sir Francis Laking, the King's Armourer, re-arranged and catalogued the arms. There were 5,721 pieces in all in a large hall at the rear of the Palace. They remained there until 1975 when the hall was taken over for use by the Maltese Parliament. The Armoury was moved to its current venue on the ground floor. Nearly all the items on display are authentic pieces from the early years of the Order in Malta i.e. the period before and after the Great Siege.

Among the numerous exhibits, there are genuine, some of them heavily decorated, suits of armour, pole arms such as pikes, halberds, forks and partisans, bows and arrows, powder flasks, swords and firearms.

One of the guns is a rare 18th century type with its muzzle reinforced with hide and tarred rope. There are also several iron and stone cannonballs, possibly relics of the Great Siege.

The Palace Armoury can be found in Merchants Street and is open every day from 9am to 5pm. Admission is €10 for adults, €7 for students and OAPs, €5 for children aged six to 11-years-old and free for under 6s.