Heritage Malta Pays Tribute to Dr Albert Ganado, Pioneer of Cartography

Stqarrija bil-Malti Agħfas Hawn / Press Release in Maltese Click Here

Press Release│3 November 2025

Heritage Malta pays tribute to the late lawyer and historian Dr Albert Ganado, pioneer of cartography, map collector, scholar of Maltese history, and author of several historical works on Malta.

In 2008, Heritage Malta had the honour of acquiring Dr Ganado’s map collection to safeguard its integrity and our shared memory. The collection, comprising 19 manuscript maps and 431 printed maps dating from 1507 to 1899, is housed at MUŻA.

Image of a map that represents a scene from the Great Siege of 1565, engraved by Italian cartographer Nicolo Nelli, notable for its profile portrait of Grand Master Jean de Valette, a rare feature in cartography.

In 2018, three maps from the collection, dating to the period of the Great Siege of 1565, were recognised by UNESCO as world heritage.

Together with the agency’s existing holdings, the Ganado collection makes Heritage Malta the custodian of the world’s largest collection of maps of Malta.