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Four of Valletta’s most intriguing museums

Malta’s capital city has had a colourful history, and its storied walls are overflowing with tales of heroism and heartbreak from across the centuries. Learn about some of its most significant moments at these revealing and immersive museums – all of which you can visit when you visit Valletta on a P&O Cruises Mediterranean holiday.

7 min 13 Nov 2025

Time Out

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The Grandmaster’s Palace

Few places chart Malta’s modern history like the Grandmaster’s Palace, a city-block-sized pile whose unadorned exterior belies lushly furnished, fresco-painted interiors. Built by the Knights of St. John in the 16th century, it now houses the office of the President of Malta. Its five magnificent staterooms, two courtyards and comprehensive armoury are a time capsule for the country’s last few centuries. The Throne Room is the most dazzling; lined with golden damask overlaid by frescos of the Great Siege of 1565. Admire Grand Master Wignacourt’s black and gold parading armour, and don’t miss the Teintures des Indes, a series of French Gobelins tapestries, which are said to be the only surviving complete set in the world.

National Museum of Archaeology

Two floors don’t seem enough space to cover Malta’s 7000-year history, but it’s a good place to start. This museum on the capital’s busiest thoroughfare, Republic Street, is an artifact-by-artifact guide to Malta’s human residents, from the Neolithic through to the Phoenicians. Expect to see evidence of some of the islands’ first settlers such as tools, figures, amphorae and even terracotta sarcophagi. The museum’s crown jewel is the ‘Sleeping Lady’, a 5,000-year-old clay statuette uncovered in the Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum which demonstrates an impressive level of artisanship for the time.

Fort St. Elmo and the National War Museum

Malta’s strategic position in the Mediterranean means it’s suffered a lot of warfare, and the various battles have left their mark across the islands. The National War Museum sits inside the weathered walls of Fort St. Elmo, a much bombarded location during the Great Siege. Seven sections cover 7,000 years of wartime history, from the Bronze Age through the Order of St. John and the Ottomans to World War Two and up to Malta’s integration into the EU. The fort’s position on the Sciberras peninsula also offers superb views over Valletta’s two harbours and the sparkling, open ocean.

Press trip A319A on board Azura in the Mediterranean.
Day eight, arrival into Grand Harbour in Valletta and destination shots.
Client: P&O Cruises.
Picture date: Thursday July 13, 2023.
Photograph by Christopher Ison ©
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MUZA - National Museum of Art

Far from the snoozy paintings-lining-a-corridor set up, MUZA encourages visitors to own their own gallery experience here, engaging as little or as much as they like while exploring the museum’s collections. Works are centered around four themes: Mediterranean, Europe, Empire or The Artist, and aim to showcase Maltese and European stories. Films and interactive experiences – including making your own art – are part and parcel of this community focused space, whose highlights include The Tempest by Claude-Joseph Vernet.

Europa, Malta, La Valletta, Blick durch eine Straßenschlucht auf die Kuppel der Karmeliterkirche

Special mentions

The Currency Museum - Located in the foyer of the Central Bank of Malta, this modest exhibition of Maltese coins and banknotes from across the years – as well as currencies from Malta’s trading partners – is quite enlightening.

Mysterium Fidei Monastery - This 400-year-old monastery only opened its doors to the public two years ago, and its beautiful cloisters and gardens – as well as its vaulted rooms and burial places – provide a fascinating insight into the lives of the Augustinian nuns who once lived here.

The Lascaris War Rooms - Enter Britain’s secret World War Two operations HQ nearly 50-metres beneath the Upper Barrakka Gardens in an underground warren of tunnels, filled with in-situ artifacts from Europe’s biggest modern-day conflict.