The Palace Armoury

The Palace, Valletta

Set up in 1604 by Grand Master Alof de Wignacourt, the Palace Armoury houses a collection of suits of armour and weaponry employed by the members of the Order of St John.

It is primarily a storehouse for firearms, which constituted the larger part of the Order’s arsenal. The Armoury was therefore an essential part of the Order’s military function.

By the eighteenth century, the Armoury started to resemble an antiquarian collection, given that it also served as a depository for suits of armour of deceased knights. Most of these suits are finely crafted  and adorned with intricate decorative detail.

Although much of this collection was dispersed in the early years of the nineteenth century, what remains can still appreciated for its outstanding craftsmanship.

Regrettably, one of the few sale d’armi still located within the original scheme, lost its link with the past in 1975, when its collection was removed to the ground floors of the Palace, so as to make way for the present House of Representatives.