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The Inquisitor’s
Palace is one of the very few surviving examples of such palaces
which could be found all over Europe and South America in the
early modern period. Malta’s palace is today an architectural
gem, representative of the rich history and European heritage
of the Islands.
The palace was erected in the 1530s as the civil law courts
of the Order of St John soon after the latter’s arrival
to Malta. In 1574 Mgr Pietro Dusina arrived in Malta as the
first general inquisitor and apostolic delegate of the Maltese
islands, and the grand master offered him the palace as his
official residence.
Initially the palace was not even a block of building of
its own. It was finally isolated from all other buildings
for the first time by Inquisitor Gerolamo Casanate (1658-63)
and it was at this time, the building finally received a façade
worthy of a palace. The project received the approval of Pope
Alexander VII (1655-67) who had previously been inquisitor
of Malta as Fabio Chigi between 1634 and 1639. He described
the design of new façade of the Inquisitor’s
Palace as both ‘noble and modest at the same time’.
The architect of the new symmetrical façade, completed
in 1660, was Francesco Sammut. It sustained slight damages
during the Second World War, which were repaired in the 1950s.
The façade is now undergoing extensive restoration
work under a project sponsored by the Malta Tourism Authority
(MTA) and the Restoration Unit of the Works Division in collaboration
with Heritage Malta. The project falls under the MTA’s
INHERIT programme. Works are being carried out by the Italian
company Sider-Iteras S.p.A (gruppo restauro Malta) under direction
of architect Hermann Bonnici.
The work includes:
- A photographic survey of the façade
- The cleaning of environmental deposits accumulated through
the years mainly from exhaust fumes. This is being done
with chemically treated mashed paper which absorbs impurities
and by the painstaking scraping with surgical knives and
the washing of the wall with light pressure water jet.
- The application of a chemical to prevent the re-growth
of musk and lichens.
- The removal of old damaged pointing and hundreds of embedded
metal nails and repointing of the façade with a lime-based
mix.
- The installation of a stainless steel structure on top
of the larger cornice to prevent water absorption.
- The replacement of stones, but only when completely
missing or absolutely necessary. Other damaged stones are
being consolidated and conserved with a sacrificial
layer to act as a protective stratum.
- The neutralization of different chromatic levels of the
façade by the application of a natural transparent
colour to eliminate patching effect.
Bomb splinter marks on the façade are being retained
as part of the history of the building.
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