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Merħba f'Malta
Country12 places · 27 museums
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★ Has its own city story
Three small islands in the middle of the Mediterranean with temples older than the pyramids, a fortress capital built by knights and a language all of its own.
On Malta and Gozo, farmers built stone temples more than 5,000 years ago – Ġgantija on Gozo is among the oldest free-standing buildings in the world, and the National Museum of Archaeology in Valletta keeps the famous Sleeping Lady. Valletta itself was built by the Knights of St John after they held the island against the Ottoman army in 1565: walk its straight streets to St John's Co-Cathedral, where Caravaggio's largest painting hangs, and to MUŻA, the national art museum. Across the Grand Harbour, Birgu and Senglea keep the stories of the siege and of the Second World War, when Malta was the most bombed place in Europe. Inland, Mdina is the quiet walled city on the hill; on Gozo, the Citadel looks over the whole island. Buses reach almost every village and the ferry to Gozo takes about 25 minutes. This museumtickets.com guide follows Malta region by region.
From temple builders to knights, empires and a small independent country.
Farmers raise huge stone temples on Malta and Gozo and carve their dead a city under the ground, the Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum.
See it at: National Museum of ArchaeologyUnder Arab rule the islands get new crops, words and place names – the roots of today's Maltese language.
See it at: Domvs RomanaThe order of knights, driven from Rhodes, receives Malta and builds forts around the Grand Harbour.
See it at: Malta Maritime MuseumFor almost four months the Knights and the Maltese hold the forts against a huge Ottoman fleet; Europe celebrates.
See it at: National War Museum →A planned capital rises on the peninsula, with palaces, auberges and a cathedral filled with art.
See it at: St John's Co-CathedralAfter a short French rule, Malta becomes a British naval base; in 1942 the whole island receives the George Cross for its courage under the bombs.
See it at: Lascaris War RoomsMalta becomes independent, a republic in 1974 and a member of the European Union in 2004.
See it at: MUŻADefenders on the walls, a newspaper founder and the first woman president.
During the Great Siege, women carried stones, water and food to the walls and poured boiling water on the attackers – the chroniclers wrote it down.
See it at: BirguJournalist and publisher who led the Times of Malta through the bombing of the Second World War and kept the paper coming out every day.
Teacher who became Malta's first woman minister and, in 1982, its first woman President.
Names that come back in Malta's churches and museums.
He lived in Malta in 1607 and 1608 and painted The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist – his largest work and the only one he signed.
See it at: St John's Co-CathedralThe painter-knight from Calabria who covered the cathedral's vault with the life of Saint John and filled Malta's churches with altarpieces.
See it at: MUŻAMaltese sculptor of movement and energy; his playful Les Gavroches stands in the Upper Barrakka Gardens.
See it at: MUŻAModern painter who also designed many of Malta's first stamps after independence.
See it at: MUŻASun-dried flavours, flaky pastries and Sunday rabbit.
Crisp, flaky pastries filled with ricotta or mushy peas – Malta's favourite snack, from tiny bakeries called pastizzeriji.
Ring-shaped sourdough bread, split and filled with tomato paste, tuna, capers and olives.
Rabbit slowly cooked in tomato, garlic and herbs – the heart of a fenkata, a long rabbit feast with friends.
Pie of dorado fish with spinach and olives, made when the lampuki season starts in late summer.
Small round sheep's cheeses from Gozo, fresh, dried or peppered.
Diamond-shaped pastries with dates and aniseed, fried at street stalls – with Kinnie, the bitter-orange soft drink of Malta.
Village feasts, fireworks and a carnival older than the knights' city.
Floats, masks and dancers in Valletta; in Nadur on Gozo the carnival is wild, dark and home-made.
Good Friday processions with life-size statues and people in robes walk through the towns.
Every parish celebrates its saint with band marches, decorated streets, the statue carried through the village and fireworks at night.
An old harvest festival in Buskett woods near Rabat, with rabbit stew, fresh bread and għana, Maltese folk singing late into the night.
One night when Valletta's museums, palaces and squares stay open late with music and art.
Every family builds a presepju, a crib with a whole village in miniature; in Għajnsielem on Gozo a living Bethlehem is built.
Only a small number of visitors may enter each day to protect the paintings and the air – book weeks ahead.
The ferry from Ċirkewwa crosses to Mġarr on Gozo in about 25 minutes; buses on Gozo start from Victoria.
Visit the temples early in summer: there is little shade and the light is beautiful.
Cover shoulders and knees for St John's Co-Cathedral and the village churches.
On museumtickets.com: 27 museums with photos, the way there and the museums nearby. Save your favourites in the free Culture Passport and, where the museum offers it, pay your admission in advance.
From the airport to the city centre by public transport, then the trains and local lines to the museums.
Lines and timetables change. Check the operator’s website before you travel.
From the temples of Malta to the Wall in Berlin: Europe is one big cultural family. One site to plan your museum days, in your language.
