MUZA - Malta National Community Art Museum
Malta's national art museum in the Auberge d'Italie, showing European and Maltese art by theme.
MUZA opened in December 2018 as Malta's national art museum, replacing the former National Museum of Fine Arts in South Street. Its home is the Auberge d'Italie on Merchants Street, built in 1574 to designs by Girolamo Cassar as the residence of the Italian langue of the Order of St John and given its present facade and portal in the 1680s under Grand Master Gregorio Carafa. The conversion, carried out as part of Valletta's year as European Capital of Culture in 2018, added a new atrium and lift while keeping the courtyard.
The name is an acronym of Muzew Nazzjonali tal-Arti and also the Maltese word for inspiration. The displays are arranged not by chronology but around four themes - Mediterranee, Europe, Empire and the Artist - drawing on a collection that ranges from late medieval devotional panels to work by Mattia Preti, Antoine de Favray and the Maltese painters Giuseppe Cali and Edward Caruana Dingli. Temporary exhibitions, community projects and events are run by Heritage Malta, which manages the museum.
Highlights
- Set in the 1574 Auberge d'Italie of the Order of St John
- Collection arranged by theme rather than by date
- Works by Mattia Preti, de Favray and Giuseppe Cali
- Opened in 2018 during Valletta's Capital of Culture year
