National Museum of Natural History

About the museum

The National Museum of Natural History occupies Vilhena Palace in the fortified city of Mdina. Grand Master Antonio Manoel de Vilhena commissioned the palace in 1724, and the French architect Charles François de Mondion designed it in the Parisian Baroque style. Before it became a museum the building served as a temporary hospital during the cholera outbreak of 1837, as a sanatorium for British troops from 1860, and as a tuberculosis hospital until January 1956.

The museum was inaugurated on 22 June 1973. Its task is to collect, display and conserve natural history specimens, with an emphasis on the flora and fauna of the Maltese islands. The collections include more than 10,000 minerals and geological items, some 12,000 bird and mammal specimens, and hundreds of thousands of molluscs, insects and fossils.

The halls are arranged by theme, from palaeontology to marine biology, and each is named after a Maltese naturalist. The Joe Sultana Hall deals with the ecology of the small islets of Filfla, Fungus Rock, St Paul’s Islands and Comino. The ornithology hall is named after Giuseppe Despott, the museum’s first curator, and the Lewis Mizzi Hall shows part of Mizzi’s historic mineral collection. Beyond its displays, the museum carries out fieldwork and research, organises lectures and publishes a peer-reviewed open-access journal, the Bulletin of the National Museum of Natural History, Malta.

Highlights

• Eighteenth-century Baroque palace in the heart of Mdina
• Displays on Maltese biodiversity, geology, palaeontology and marine fauna
• Hall on the islets of Filfla, Fungus Rock, St Paul’s Islands and Comino
• Ornithology hall and historic mineral collection
• Sensory map and social story for visitors on the autism spectrum

Permanent exhibition

• Natural history of the Maltese islands – Halls on local biodiversity and ecology, geology and palaeontology, mineralogy, human evolution, marine fauna, skeletons, insects, shells and birds.

Founded

1973

Operated by

Heritage Malta

Admission & discounts

Heritage Malta members and passport holders enter free. Guided tours can be booked on request for an extra fee.

Accessibility

• Partially wheelchair accessible
• Elevator: no information
• Accessible restroom
• Accessible parking: no information
• Service dogs welcome
• Tactile models & exhibits: no information
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials: no information
• Audio description: no information

Only the ground floor is accessible by wheelchair; the other floors are reached by stairs (22 steps to the first floor of the central part and 52 steps through the three floors of the North Wing). The front courtyard has a slightly uneven floor, and staff can assist on request. There is an accessible toilet with a nappy changing table on the ground floor and a second toilet at the lower level. Service dogs are welcome; pets are not permitted.

Kids & families

• Baby changing facilities

A children’s room on the second floor of the North Wing offers seating for all ages and can be booked by groups. Nappy changing facilities are in the accessible toilet.

Getting there & parking

The museum is to the right just inside the Mdina Main Gate. Cars are not allowed inside Mdina without a permit from the Mdina Local Council.

Amenities & dining

• Museum shop
• Lockers
• Wi-Fi

Gift shop at reception with books, jewellery, souvenirs and the museum guidebook. Free Wi-Fi is available at reception and throughout the museum. Benches in the courtyard and seating areas on the upper floors.

Events & venue rental

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Plan your visit