Maritime Museum goes through major overhaul and upgrade

Future visitors to the Malta Maritime Museum in Birgu will be treated to a fully immersive and interactive participant-centred experience thanks to a process of innovative digitisation co-financed by the EEA (European Economic Area, Norway Grants) funding. The museum, which is currently closed, is also going through a process of restoration and structural upgrading, further helping to enhance the public’s access to new, state-of-the-art display areas in the building.

The EEA project is part of a bigger investment by the Government of Malta and Heritage Malta at the Malta Maritime Museum.

The Norway Grants consist of €2 million worth of funding that is being funnelled into two separate channels.

Half of the funds are being allocated towards civil works and the rehabilitation of the Malta Maritime Museum premises to reverse changes made to the structure of the building during the British colonial period. The structural upgrading also includes the significant expansion of the Museum display area and the creation of new spaces for the reserve collection and the permanent exhibition. Furthermore, the ground floor of the museum is being made more accessible to the public.

The remaining half of the grant has been apportioned for the digitization of 2600 artefacts within the Malta Maritime Museum, making for a more interactive and innovative visitor  centred presentation of the collection. This is a major first for Heritage Malta and part of a long term project to digitize hundreds of thousands of  items which form part of the national collection, ranging from paintings to porcelain, archaeological artefacts, arms and armour, natural history specimens, clothing, and intangible cultural heritage assets. The digitization process involves the acquisition of various digital formats including: photography, videography, 3D laser scanning and photogrammetry, besides the setting up of a collection management system which will eventually grow into the national collection management system.

Currently the EEA Malta Maritime Museum Project is on track with its targeted work schedule. Half of the projected civil works have already been completed, and most of the digitization equipment purchased. The exciting and substantial overhaul underway, promises to place the Museum firmly on the map of any foreign or local visitor’s itinerary.