Malta Maritime Museum

A stroll along the beautiful Birgu waterfront is not quite complete without a visit to the Malta Maritime Museum, housed within the Old Naval Bakery and charting 7000 years of Malta’s maritime history, from prehistory to the present day.

Numerous exhibited artefacts highlight the different epochs of the islands’ history and illustrate the global nature of seafaring and its impact on Maltese society. The museum also manifests the fascination of the sea within a Mediterranean context.

Having started from scratch in 1988, today the museum boasts a unique collection of more than 20,000 artefacts belonging to Malta’s maritime past. This collection was acquired by a tireless search for artefacts related to the museum’s mission, their identification and acquisition. This task has been aided by constant donations from the Maltese public, as well as foreign individuals, companies, corporate bodies, foreign maritime and naval museums, foreign navies, and Maltese and foreign Ambassadors and High Commissioners.

Visitors of this museum may nowadays enjoy some unique artefacts which include the largest known Roman anchor in the world, the earliest known ex-voto on the island, the Order of St John’s largest ship model, the vastest collection of cannon on the island, the Napoleonic figurehead of the 110-gun ship HMS Hibernia, a 1950s working marine steam engine, as well as a collection of more than 60 traditional boats.

The Malta Maritime Museum is currently undergoing a massive redesign and redevelopment project which will provide the ideal platform to showcase its collection and share its stories with the visitor.