Standing proudly halfway between the main gate and the square of the maritime city of Birgu, renamed Vittoriosa in commemoration of the victorious outcome of the Great Siege of 1565, is the Inquisitor’s Palace, a gem of a labyrinthine compound comprising centuries of architectural interventions and varying architectural styles.
The extant fabric includes elements predating the arrival of the Order in 1530, since the building of the then Magna Curia Castellania (civil courts of justice) during the early 1530s followed closely and retained significant sections of what looks to have been a typical courtyard house. Following the transfer of the Order’s headquarters to the new city of Valletta in 1571, this building, which occupied the northwest quarter of the present compound, was handed over to the Inquisition in 1574. The new inquilines embarked on an expansion and redevelopment programme to accommodate the operational needs of the Holy Office and Apostolic Delegate. All adjoining properties making up the present footprint had been acquired by the late 1650s.
Likewise, various inquisitors undertook a number of embellishment projects to transform the building into a typical Roman palace. This received a significant boost through Inquisitor Francesco Stoppani, who spearheaded a determining redesign project between 1733 and 1734. The project was entrusted to the High Baroque Architect Romano Carapecchia. Sections of the uppermost level were constructed at a later stage.
In Malta, the inquisitors had other responsibilities besides leading the Holy Office. They doubled as apostolic delegates or nuncios. The practice of appointing permanent delegates was established by Pope Gregory XIII (1572-1585) to follow the implementation of the Counter-Reformation. As nuncios, inquisitors directed all the transactions between the Holy See and the government of the Order. They also headed the local office of the Reverenda Fabbrica di San Pietro, the institution responsible for the construction and embellishment of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. Besides, the inquisitors took active part in the redemption of Christian captives in Muslim lands and supported missionary expeditions in the Levant and north Africa.
All inquisitors serving in Malta came from established families in Rome and other parts of the Italian peninsula. The majority of these ecclesiastics consisted of fairly young individuals, at the start of their career, while most of them were eventually assigned other prestigious offices after their stay on the Maltese Islands. Indeed, out of a total of 61 individuals, 25 were appointed cardinals, whereas an additional two were elected popes. These are Alexander VII (1655-1667) and Innocent XII (1691-1700).
Following the abolition of the Holy Roman Inquisition in 1798, the Inquisitor’s Palace served as residence of the French Commander of the Cottonera district from 1798 to 1800 and was adapted as a mess-house for army officers and as a military hospital during the 19th century. It was decommissioned in 1900 and handed over to the then Museums Department in 1926. Although it was restored to its former glory and opened as a historic house museum, it accommodated temporarily the Dominican Friars, whose church and friary on the opposite side of the street were bombed down in 1942. Back to the Museums Department, the Inquisitor’s Palace was reopened to the public in 1966.
The experience on offer is divided in three distinct sections, being the domestic and kitchen area, the piano nobile (comprising both official halls and residential quarters), and facilities of the Holy Office (namely tribunal, torture chamber and prison complex). It also offers an overview of the Inquisition’s influence in the moulding of Malta’s pious devotions.
