Palazzo Falson

Palazzo Falson is the finest medieval secular building in Mdina, and one of the best historic house museums in the Mediterranean. The structure dates from the Norman period — the ground floor is believed to be twelfth century — and was expanded over subsequent centuries while retaining its distinctive double-light windows and stone loggia.

The house is displayed as its last private owner, Captain Olof Frederick Gollcher, left it in 1962: seventeen rooms crammed with an extraordinary collection assembled over a lifetime. There are paintings attributed to Murillo and Nicolas Poussin, an Edward Lear watercolour painted during his Malta visit, over 4,500 books and manuscripts, silverware, carpets, armour, and a remarkable array of antique timepieces. The atmosphere is of a cultured man's home rather than a formal museum, which makes it unusually engaging.

Admission includes a guided audio tour. The rooftop terrace offers good views over the old city walls.

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A story
The palazzo takes its current name from the Falzon family, who owned it in the fifteenth century. Its most famous later resident was the eccentric Captain Olof Frederick Gollcher, who lived here until his death in 1962 and filled seventeen rooms with everything from medieval weapons to Murillo paintings. He left it all to Malta on the condition that it be opened to the public as he had kept it — unchanged.