The Auberge de Provence is one of the best-preserved of the eight auberges built in Valletta for the various national langues of the Knights of St John. Completed in 1571, it now houses the National Museum of Archaeology, which is the most practical reason to visit — but the building itself is worth attention. The facade on Republic Street is an accomplished piece of Baroque architecture, with a well-proportioned entrance and carved stone detailing, and the main Great Hall inside, with its 17th-century painted wooden ceiling, is impressive even stripped of its original furnishings.
The auberge housed the knights of the Provencal and Auvergne langues and was the social and dining hall for one of the most powerful factions in the Order. The scale of the rooms — designed to hold full ceremonial dinners for dozens of knights — gives a clear sense of how the Knights of St John organised their collective life in the city they built.