An exhibition documenting the post-war refuge sought by the Dominican community at the Inquisitor’s Palace

The Inquisitor’s Palace in Vittoriosa is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 9am until 4.30pm. It will be closed on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. The exhibition runs until January 8.

With an emphasis on the post-War years, this exhibition celebrates the special relationship between the Inquisitor’s Palace and the neighbouring Dominican Order, through the voice of their own community, whose recollections clearly testify to the special place this Palace has in the heart of Birgu.

Inquisitors and the Dominicans of Birgu enjoyed a fruitful relationship for centuries. During the early years of the Inquisition, when the palace was much smaller, the Dominican church and convent often hosted the Inquisitors themselves, providing space where important meetings could be held. Several Dominican friars served as consultors and officers of the Inquisition without claiming any payment for their services. In return, Inquisitors assisted in the Dominicans’ needs and projects.

This collaboration came somewhat to a standstill in 1798, with the departure of the last Inquisitor, but World War II brought the neighbours together once more. In 1941, enemy bombing left the Dominican community of Birgu without a convent and a church, spurring the friars to seek temporary refuge beyond Birgu. However, a sense of duty to fulfil their mission within their community led them back to Birgu, where they asked to make temporary use of the Inquisitor’s Palace. For almost two decades the palace became their home and temple.

The exhibition Dumnikani fil-Palazz: Home & Temple 1942 – 1960 recounts this story through documents and interviews of people who remember these events. Parts of the painting which adorned the original Dominican church dome are also being exhibited together for the first time ever. A section of the exhibition is inspired by the first post-war feast of St Dominic celebrated in 1952, after an absence of 13 years, with the typical vestments worn during the procession by members of the clergy and the altar boys accompanying them.

Visit the event Facebook page for more information.