Palace Armoury

Palace Armoury
	L-Armerija tal-Palazz
	Suits of armour at the Palace Armoury
Established	1604 (armoury); 1860 (museum)
Location	Grandmaster's Palace, Valletta, Malta
Coordinates	35°53′56″N14°30′50″E / 35.89889°N 14.51389°E Coordinates: 35°53′56″N14°30′50″E / 35.89889°N 14.51389°E
Type	Armoury
Owner	Government of Malta
Public transit access	500m walk from City Gate
Website	Heritage Malta

Last updated September 19, 2020

The Palace Armoury (Maltese : L-Armerija tal-Palazz) is an arms collection housed at the Grandmaster's Palace in Valletta, Malta. It was the main armoury of the Order of St. John in the 17th and 18th centuries, and as such it was the last arsenal established by a crusader military order. Although today only a part of the original armoury still survives, it is still one of the world's largest collections of arms and armour still housed in its original building (although not the original location). The Palace Armoury has been open to the public as a museum since 1860.

History

In 1604, the Order's arsenal was transferred to the Grandmaster's Palace by Alof de Wignacourt, and was housed in a large hall at the rear of the building. At the time, it contained enough arms and armour for thousands of soldiers.^[1] The armoury was rearranged under Manuel Pinto da Fonseca's magistracy in the 18th century.^[2]

Parts of the armoury are believed to have been removed and shipped to France during the French occupation of Malta in 1798–1800, as part of "the organised robbery of art treasure and historic treasures" carried out by Napoleon. In the early 19th century, the armoury was altered by the British with the addition of Egyptian style column-like supports. These were removed and returned to England in 1855.^[2]

In the late 1850s, the armoury was restored under the personal direction of Governor John Gaspard Le Marchant, and it opened to the public as a museum in 1860.^[1] In around 1900, the armoury's collections were catalogued by Guy Francis Laking, who published a book entitled The Armoury of The Knights of St. John of Jerusalem.^[2]

In World War II, the hall housing the armoury was damaged by aerial bombardment on 7 April 1942. The collections were subsequently transferred to the basement of the Grandmaster's Palace or to Girgenti Palace for safekeeping. The hall was repaired after the war, and the armoury reopened in 1948.^[2] In 1969, UNESCO sent Polish experts Aleksander Czerwiński and Zdzisław Żygulski to make an inventory of the armoury, and they called it one of "the most valuable historic monuments of European culture" in their report.^[2]

Overview of the Palace Armoury Valletta-grandmasters-palace-armoury-01.JPG — Overview of the Palace Armoury

In 1975, the collection was transferred from its original location to two former stables on the palace's ground floor, where it remains today. The original armoury was converted into the meeting place of the Parliament of Malta, and was used as such from 1976 to 2015, when a new purpose-built Parliament House was inaugurated near the entrance of Valletta.^[3]

A study of the armoury was carried out by historian Stephen C. Spiteri in 2003.^[4]

Today, the museum is managed by Heritage Malta, and it is open daily from 9.00 to 17.00.^[5]

Collection

The collections of the Palace Armoury include:

several suits of armour belonging to knights of the Order of St. John, mainly dating from around 1550 to 1650. These include the personal armour of Grand Masters Martin Garzez and Alof de Wignacourt, and Grand Commander Jean-Jacques de Verdelin.^[2]
many suits of battle armour for regular soldiers, dating from around 1550 to 1650. These were mainly manufactured in Italy, but some were made locally or in France, Spain or Germany.^[2]
many firearms, swords, and other weapons, dating from the 16th to the 18th centuries. These include some Ottoman arms captured during the Great Siege of Malta in 1565.^[2]
several cannon and other artillery pieces, which were used to arm the various fortifications of Malta.^[1] These date back to the 15th to 18th centuries.^[2] Two of the cannons were retrieved from sea in 1964 from a knights period shipwreck in Mellieħa.^[6]

Some modern armament dating back to World War I and World War II was also included in the collection.^[1] When the armoury was moved in 1975, these were transferred to the National War Museum in Fort Saint Elmo.

Related Research Articles

António Manoel de Vilhena was a Portuguese nobleman who was the 66th Prince and Grand Master of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem from 19 June 1722 to his death in 1736. Unlike a number of the other Grand Masters, he was benevolent and popular with the Maltese people. Vilhena is mostly remembered for the founding of Floriana, the construction of Fort Manoel and the Manoel Theatre, and the renovation of the city of Mdina.

Fra Alof de Wignacourt was a French nobleman who was the 54th Grand Master of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem from 10 February 1601 to his death in 1622. Unlike a number of the other Grand Masters, he was popular with the Maltese people. Wignacourt is mostly remembered for the construction of the Wignacourt Aqueduct as well as a series of coastal towers which also bear his name.

St John's Co-Cathedral is a Roman Catholic co-cathedral in Valletta, Malta, dedicated to Saint John the Baptist. It was built by the Order of St. John between 1572 and 1577, having been commissioned by Grand Master Jean de la Cassière as the Conventual Church of Saint John.

Santa Venera is a town in the Central Region of Malta, with a population of around 6,932. It is located between the towns of Birkirkara and Ħamrun, and it also borders Qormi and Msida.

Fort Saint Elmo is a star fort in Valletta, Malta. It stands on the seaward shore of the Sciberras Peninsula that divides Marsamxett Harbour from Grand Harbour, and commands the entrances to both harbours along with Fort Tigné and Fort Ricasoli. It is best known for its role in the Great Siege of Malta of 1565.

Wignacourt Tower, also known as Saint Paul's Bay Tower, is a bastioned watchtower in St. Paul's Bay, Malta. It was the first of six Wignacourt towers to be built, and it was completed in 1610. It replaced the role of Ta' Tabibu farmhouse which was previously known as Dejma Tower. An artillery battery was added a century later in 1715. Today the tower is a museum.

Portrait of Alof de Wignacourt with his Page is a painting by the Italian master Caravaggio, in the Louvre of Paris.

The Grandmaster's Palace, officially known as The Palace, is a palace in Valletta, Malta. It was built between the 16th and 18th centuries as the palace of the Grand Master of the Order of St. John, who ruled Malta, and was also known as the Magisterial Palace. It eventually became the Governor's Palace, and it currently houses the Office of the President of Malta. Parts of the building, namely the Palace State Rooms and the Palace Armoury, are open to the public as a museum run by Heritage Malta.

The Wignacourt towers are a series of large coastal watchtowers built in Malta by the Order of Saint John between 1610 and 1620. A total of six towers of this type were constructed, four of which survive.

Santa Maria delle Grazie Tower, also known as Delle Grazie Tower, Madonna delle Gratie Tower or Blata Bajda Tower, was a watchtower in what is now Xgħajra, Malta. It was constructed in 1620, and was the last of six Wignacourt towers to be built. The tower was demolished in the late 19th century by the British military.

The Château de Lacassagne is a château in the commune of Saint-Avit-Frandat in the Gers département of France.

Malta was ruled by the Knights Hospitaller, or Order of Saint John, as a vassal state of the Kingdom of Sicily from 1530 to 1798. The islands of Malta and Gozo, as well as the city of Tripoli in modern Libya, were granted to the Order by Spanish Emperor Charles V in 1530, following the loss of Rhodes. The Ottoman Empire managed to capture Tripoli from the Order in 1551, but an attempt to take Malta in 1565 failed.

Fleur-de-Lys is a suburb that forms part of Birkirkara, and it is also considered a suburb of Santa Venera and Qormi. It lies approximately 5 kilometers away from Malta's capital, Valletta. The population of Fleur-de-Lys is about 2200 people and the area is very small.

The Wignacourt Aqueduct is a 17th-century aqueduct in Malta, which was built by the Order of Saint John to carry water from springs in Dingli and Rabat to the newly built capital city Valletta. The aqueduct was carried through underground pipes and over arched viaducts across depressions in the ground.

The fortifications of Malta consist of a number of walled cities, citadels, forts, towers, batteries, redoubts, entrenchments and pillboxes. The fortifications were built over thousands of years, from around 1450 BC to the mid-20th century, and they are a result of the Maltese islands' strategic position and natural harbours, which have made them very desirable for various powers.

Palazzo Ferreria, officially Palazzo Buttiġieġ-Francia, is a palace found near the entrance of Valletta, the capital city of Malta. It was built in the late 19th century. Designed by Architect Giuseppe Bonavia, makes use of an interesting concept of adding local timber balconies to a design inspired from that of buildings in Italy. It is protected as a Grade 2 national monument.

The Fortress Builders – Fortification Interpretation Centre (FIC) is an interpretation centre about the fortifications of Malta. It is housed in a late 16th-century warehouse located near the St. Andrew's Bastion in Valletta, Malta. The centre was opened in 2013, and it aims at communicating Malta's military architecture in an interactive way.

Stephen C. Spiteri is a Maltese military historian, author, lecturer and preservationist. His work mainly deals with the military history of Malta, particularly military architecture, and he is regarded as the "leading expert on Malta's fortifications."

The Monte della Redenzione degli Schiavi, often simply known as the Monte di Redenzione, was Maltese institution which was set up to finance the redemption of Maltese people enslaved by Ottomans or Barbary pirates. It was founded in 1607 by Grand Master Alof de Wignacourt, and it existed as an independent institution until 1787, when it was merged with the Monte di Pietà, forming the Monte di Pietà e Redenzione. The new institution continued the role of redeeming slaves until the early 19th century, when it became redundant after slavery was suppressed.

The Forni della Signoria was a bakehouse, housing a number of bakeries, built during the Order of St John in Valletta, Malta. It was built in the late 16th century, and it produced bread for the inhabitants of Valletta and the surrounding area, as well as for the Order's garrison and navy.

References

1 2 3 4 "The Palace Armoury". Heritage Malta . Archived from the original on 5 January 2015.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Czerwinski, A.; Zygulski, Z. (July 1969). "The Palace Armoury of Valletta" (PDF). UNESCO . Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016.
↑ "Parliament House inaugurated, holds first sitting: 'A milestone in Malta's parliamentary history' – President". Times of Malta . 4 May 2015. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
↑ Navarro, Franco (2012). "Decorated Great Siege armours for the Hospitaller Knights at the Palace Armoury Museum, Valletta". University of Malta . Archived from the original on 26 March 2016.
↑ "The Palace Armoury" (PDF). Heritage Malta . Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 March 2016.
↑ "Annual Report 2004" (PDF). Superintendence of Cultural Heritage. Valletta. 2004. p. 11. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 May 2017.

External links

Media related to Palace Armoury (Valletta) at Wikimedia Commons

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[heritagemalta-1] 1 2 3 4 "The Palace Armoury". Heritage Malta . Archived from the original on 5 January 2015.

[unesco-2] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Czerwinski, A.; Zygulski, Z. (July 1969). "The Palace Armoury of Valletta" (PDF). UNESCO . Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016.

[3] "Parliament House inaugurated, holds first sitting: 'A milestone in Malta's parliamentary history' – President". Times of Malta . 4 May 2015. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.

[4] Navarro, Franco (2012). "Decorated Great Siege armours for the Hospitaller Knights at the Palace Armoury Museum, Valletta". University of Malta . Archived from the original on 26 March 2016.

[5] "The Palace Armoury" (PDF). Heritage Malta . Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 March 2016.

[6] "Annual Report 2004" (PDF). Superintendence of Cultural Heritage. Valletta. 2004. p. 11. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 May 2017.