National Museum of Natural History, wild Malta inside a Baroque palace

People come to Mdina for the streets and walk straight past one of its finest palaces. That’s a shame, because Palazzo Vilhena houses the National Museum of Natural History, and for me it’s the clearest proof that Malta is about more than stone and knights. There are Ice Age fossils, minerals, birds from across the world and a whole hall on islets hardly anyone ever sets foot on.

A Baroque palace with a hospital past

The building has more history than many museums on the island. Grand Master Antonio Manoel de Vilhena commissioned it in 1724 and the French architect Charles François de Mondion designed it in a Parisian-inspired Baroque. It then changed jobs several times. During the 1837 cholera outbreak it served as a makeshift hospital; from 1860 the British used it as a sanatorium for their troops, and it ended up as a TB clinic until it shut in January 1956. The museum opened on 22 June 1973.

That past shows in the way the rooms wrap around a courtyard, and it’s why I’d go in even if minerals leave you cold. It’s one of the most elegant palaces in Mdina, and the ticket is one of Heritage Malta’s cheapest.

What’s inside?

The collection is big for such a small country. By Heritage Malta’s count the holdings run to some 12,000 bird and mammal specimens, just over 10,000 minerals and geological samples, and hundreds of thousands of shells, insects and fossils. The halls are arranged by theme, from palaeontology to marine biology, and each one is named after a Maltese naturalist who studied the islands.

Two stand out for me. The Joe Sultana Hall is about life on the islets, from Filfla and Fungus Rock to St Paul’s Islands and Comino, places where landing is rare or not allowed at all. The ornithology hall, named after Giuseppe Despott, Malta’s first natural history curator, lays out birds from around the world by family. The Lewis Mizzi Hall shows much of his historic mineral collection.

If prehistory is your thing, this museum pairs well with the cave at Għar Dalam, where bones of Ice Age elephants and hippos turned up. There you see the site; here you get the wider story of the islands’ wildlife.

If you are short on time, see the best tours in Natural History Museum and pick one that fits your day.

Tickets and combos

On its own it costs €5 (€3.50 for seniors and students, €2.50 for children), but I wouldn’t buy it that way if you’re spending the day nearby. Heritage Malta sells a combo with the Domvs Romana and St Paul’s Catacombs for €14 per adult, while the three separately add up to €17. I explain this and the other passes in Malta’s sightseeing passes.

Mondays are closed, and until 3 January 2027 the other six days run from nine to five. In January and February 2027 Wednesday becomes a second day off. Calendar closures are those of the whole Heritage Malta network (the first of January, Good Friday and the three big December dates, the 24th, 25th and 31st), and there’s no entry in the final half hour.

Fitting it into Mdina and Rabat

My order would be this. Walk into Mdina through the main gate, see this museum first, then wander the streets towards Mdina Cathedral. After that, head down to Rabat for the Domvs Romana and the catacombs. On an unhurried day the combo covers the lot.

One thing to know if you’re travelling with someone with limited mobility. Heritage Malta warns that parts of the museum aren’t fully accessible, which is no surprise in an 18th-century palace. Ask at the ticket desk before you pay.

Where the bus does not go, a car does: compare car hire in Valletta before you arrive rather than at the desk.

If you still need a way in, check the best ticket deals to Malta from where you are.