Set the scene.
Grand Master Vilhena commissioned the palace in 1724. French architect Charles François de Mondion designed its Parisian Baroque architecture.
Here’s the twist.
The building later served medical purposes, including use during the 1837 cholera outbreak and as a tuberculosis clinic. Its health-care chapter ended in 1956.
Why it still matters.
The Natural History Museum opened here on 22 June 1973. The same grand rooms could therefore hold patients in one era and scientific specimens in another.
🧠 One to think about +
What does this story change about the way you see Malta today? Pick one detail you’d tell a friend — then check its source below.