Palazzo Falson, a collector's medieval home in Mdina

Palazzo Falson is Mdina’s historic house museum and, in my view, the visit most people walk straight past. They go into the cathedral, take the photo at the gate and leave. Inside this one is something you barely get to see in Malta, a medieval noble home furnished the way its last owner left it.

Eight hundred years of one house

The museum dates the palazzo to the early 13th century and explains that it stands on the site of La Rocca, part of Mdina’s defences in the Arab period, between 870 and 1091. It was originally a single storey. When Michele de Falsone inherited it in 1524 he added the upper floor and the twin-light windows with slender columns that are now the most photographed thing on the façade.

The Order arrived soon after. Before the Knights had settled in, the house was adapted to receive Grand Master Philippe Villiers de L’Isle Adam, who, according to the museum, stayed there from 20 October to 5 November 1531. It then passed to the Cumbo-Navarro family and their heirs for centuries.

Captain Gollcher and his collection

In 1927 Olof Frederick Gollcher and his mother bought it. The Gollchers were Swedish shipowners and traders who had come to Malta in 1848, and the museum describes Olof as an artist, soldier, collector and philanthropist. He lived here until his death in 1962, renamed it The Norman House and left it, with his collection, to a foundation, wishing it to be opened to the public.

The collection runs from the 15th to the 20th century and takes in a bit of everything, furniture, arms and armour, jewellery, coins, paintings, fans, rugs, documents, silver and glass, from across Europe and the Mediterranean. What interests me isn’t any single object but the whole, which you visit as a home rather than a row of display cases. Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti started restoring it in 2002 and opened it as a museum in May 2007.

Why the collection is still together

What I like most about this house is the idea behind its opening. The foundation that runs it sets out to keep Gollcher’s collection together in a museum setting without the house losing its feel of a home, and to show how a private collection can be kept whole for posterity through conservation, research and public access. I think that deserves more credit than it gets, because the easy option would have been to scatter the pieces among other museums.

The restoration was taken on by Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti, funded by its members and sponsors, and the museum still asks for support for new projects. It runs temporary exhibitions, talks and children’s workshops, and its website has sections on the house library and a small pollinator haven.

What the visit is like

You go round with an audio guide included in the ticket, in six languages, and there’s printed and digital information in around twenty more. With teenagers, there’s an augmented-reality game, Secrets of Palazzo Falson, at the same price as a normal ticket.

The ground floor holds the courtyard, refectory, armoury, kitchen and studio, which are the areas you can reach by wheelchair via a ramp at the side door on Triq is-Salvatur. There’s no lift to the upper floors, as it’s a Grade A listed building. Up on the roof is Gustav Café, with 10% off for ticket holders. Free lockers at reception take bags up to 40 by 25 centimetres; there’s no cloakroom.

Tickets and opening hours

An adult ticket is €12.50, and students and seniors pay €6. Children aged 6 to 12 go free with an adult, and under-6s aren’t admitted, which is worth knowing before you haul a pushchair up the hill. It opens Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00, with the last entry at 16:00, and closes on Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. EYCA cardholders get 10% off.

Fitting it into Mdina

The palazzo is on Villegaignon Street, inside Mdina. The museum recommends taking the bus to Rabat, on the 51, 52, 53 or 56 from Valletta, and walking through Howard Gardens to the Main Gate. If you’re driving, leave the car outside the walls.

I’d do Mdina Cathedral mid-morning and Palazzo Falson after it, with a coffee on the roof before moving on. If it leaves you wanting another lived-in noble house, Valletta has Casa Rocca Piccola, still owned by the de Piro family. The Mdina Dungeons, also inside the walls, are a different outing, half an hour of scares among mannequins for €6, and I’d rank them well behind this house.