The Domvs Romana, a wealthy Melite household and its mosaics

The Domvs Romana is the visit that balances out the catacombs. There you see how Melite, the Roman town that covered Mdina and Rabat, buried its dead; here you see how its wealthy lived. It’s one of my favourite small museums in Malta, provided you don’t walk in expecting a villa still standing.

A chance find in 1881

Heritage Malta tells how the house was discovered by accident in 1881. Very little of the building itself, a domus or noble town house, was recovered, but the mosaics and other finds survived, and they’re enough to picture how rich it once was. A building went up over the find to protect it, the first on the islands purpose-built to house an archaeological site and its collection.

The museum opened in 1882 and became the store for Roman pieces turning up all over the island, including bits of marble that had been lying about in the streets of Mdina. Over the years it gained a façade with a triangular pediment, the 1920s portico you see as you arrive, and a large display hall. During the Second World War it closed and served as a small restoration centre, reopening in 1945.

Villa or town house?

Town house. Heritage Malta’s FAQs draw a distinction I find useful. A villa stood in the countryside and was usually linked to farming or had baths, while a domus was simply a home in a town. This was the town house of a rich family, and the museum answers the question of whether its owners were rich or poor in a single word.

How old are the mosaics?

Older than most people expect. VisitMalta’s listing dates them to the first quarter of the first century BC and calls them an excellent illustration of Hellenistic pictorial culture, laid with an extremely fine technique. It ranks them among the oldest mosaic compositions in the western Mediterranean, alongside those of Pompeii and Sicily, and suggests that parts of them came from highly skilled artists working in specialised workshops.

The main pavement, framed by a Doric peristyle, is on the lower floor, and other fine pieces fill the rooms next to it. The same listing notes that the imagery is usually read as an allegory of autumn, and that another panel of the same quality seems to have marked the main entrance to the house. I’d look at the floors first and the display cases afterwards, because the mosaics are what makes this house unique on the island.

What you shouldn’t miss

First, the mosaics. In the peristyle, the colonnaded courtyard, over the impluvium that caught the rainwater, is a central panel with a doves motif attributed to Sosos, which is the piece Heritage Malta leads with. The peristyle is original, except for the columns.

Second, the statues. Heritage Malta points out that this is the only set of marble statues of Emperor Claudius and his family that can be seen in a private house, when such works usually stood in public spaces. Among them is a bust of Claudia Antonia, the emperor’s daughter.

The rest of the museum is laid out to show you the life of an aristocratic Roman family, from who did what in the household to fashion, schooling, entertainment, food and drink. Everything on display is original, including a skeleton from the Muslim-era cemetery found on the site.

What the Rabat Combo adds

If you buy the €14 combo, the third site included is the National Museum of Natural History in Mdina’s Palazzo Vilhena, and it’s worth knowing what that is. The palace dates from 1724, when Grand Master Vilhena had it built to plans by Charles François de Mondion, a French architect. Before becoming a museum it served as a hospital in the 1837 cholera outbreak, a sanatorium for British service personnel from 1860 and a tuberculosis clinic until 1956, opening as a museum on 22 June 1973.

Heritage Malta says it holds more than 10,000 mineral and geological items and 12,000 bird and mammal specimens. One hall is devoted to the islets, Filfla, Fungus Rock, St Paul’s Islands and Comino. With children in tow, it’s the add-on I’d choose after the Domvs.

Tickets, hours and access

Adults pay €6, the reduced rate is €4.50 and a child’s ticket, for ages 6 to 11, is €3. It opens Tuesday to Sunday, 09:00 until 17:00, up to 3 January 2027; after that and through to the end of February it’s also shut on Wednesdays. Be there at least thirty minutes before closing.

Heritage Malta rates it fully accessible, with accessible toilets. There are lockers and baby-changing facilities, and you can request a guided tour through its website. If you’d like to read up first, Heritage Malta sells an official guidebook to the Domvs Romana in its online shop, and ticket holders get 15% off guidebooks at the site shop. One more practical detail. The Domvs is one of the places where Heritage Malta sells last-minute Hypogeum tickets after 12:00, at €50, for the following day only and on a first-come basis, so it’s worth knowing if Paola is still on your list.

How to combine it

It’s on Wesgħet il-Mużew in Rabat, next to Mdina, two minutes’ walk from the bus stop. Buses to Rabat include the 51, 52, 53 and 56 from Valletta, the 202 from Sliema, the 186 from Buġibba and the 214 or TD1 from the airport, according to Palazzo Falson’s visitor page. If you’re also doing St Paul’s Catacombs and the Natural History Museum, the €14 Rabat Combo saves you €3. I’d go catacombs first thing, the Domvs mid-morning and then Mdina, a short stroll away.