The Inquisitor’s Palace (Part 1)

The Inquisitor’s Palace is in the heart of Birgu and amazingly, it escaped the bombing of WWII almost unscathed [Ed: although the leaflet suggests that its time being used as a British Army Officers’ Mess was possibly the most damaging to the fabric of the building during its whole history]. As such, it is one of the few surviving palaces of its kind in Europe, and the only one open to the public.

There were 3 separate Inquisition Tribunals: the Mediaeval, the Spanish and the Roman. Malta was mainly involved with the Roman Inquisition which began (in Rome) in 1542 but which did not reach Malta’s shores until much later.

The Inquisitor’s Palace   

Mgr Pietro Dusina arrived in Malta in 1574 as the first General Inquisitor and apostolic delegate of the Maltese Islands. The Grand Master offered him the use of the unused palace, which had previously been the Order’s civil law courts, as an official residence and it was then used by all subsequent inquisitors until the last one left the island in 1798, just before the French took over the islands. Each inquisitor sought to update the palace into an appropriate mansion for the rank of his station and so over the years it has been the subject of extensive building work.

Kitchens   

The kitchens and domestic area were the first places on the tour. In some areas the floors had been excavated to show the remains of mediaeval buildings upon which this building had been constructed in the 1530s.

Main staircase   

Moving through to the main staircase, constructed by Inquisitor Francesco Stoppani in 1733, we got a feeling for how important the Inquisitor was, or thought that he was. Apparently, at the time, a grand staircase was absolutely essential to project a powerful image when receiving guests. Indeed, the guests themselves would know how highly they were ranked by the Inquisitor by how high up the stairway he deigned to meet them.

Coats of arms of all of the Inquisitors

Inquisitor’s private chapel   

The main staircase leads to the lavishly decorated Piano Nobile. It was part of the Inquisitor’s private quarters and included a private chapel but it was also used as a hosting area for distinguished guests. The walls are still decorated with mural paintings of the coats of arms of all of the Inquisitors.

The Inquisitor’s bedroom   

Next door to the Piano Nobile was the Tribunal but we visited that much later in the tour. So, essentially, the Inquisitor had his place of work (the Tribunal) his reception room, private chapel and bedroom all close together on the first floor. The ground floor was used for the domestic area (primarily kitchens), prison cells and torture chamber.

Birgu, Malta