National Museum Of Natural History — Attraction in Mdina

The National Museum of Natural History, or Mużew Nazzjonali tal-Istorja Naturali, is located in the peaceful fortified city of Mdina, Malta. Housed in the magnificent Palazzo Vilhena, an 18th-century French-Baroque palace built by Grand Master Antonio Manoel de Vilhena, the museum offers an exceptional journey through Malta’s natural environment, wildlife, geology, and more .

🏛 Highlights to Explore

Biodiversity Galleries explore Malta’s native flora and fauna, including the national plant Maltese centaury and national bird Blue Rock Thrush .

The Habitats Hall, dedicated to Giuseppe Despott, features immersive dioramas that depict landscapes like garrigue, cliffs, valleys, and sandy shores, with displays of birds and other fauna .

The L. Mizzi Hall presents around 850 specimens from Lewis Mizzi’s extensive mineral collection, showcasing both raw specimens and artistic pieces .

Watch for notable items like a giant flying squid washed ashore at St Paul’s Bay, a pygmy elephant tusk, pygmy hippopotamus teeth, and the lower jaw of a giant dormouse .

Broader displays include birds, mammals (≈200 species), fish (≈200 species), insects, shells, fossils, human evolution, and marine fauna .

📍 Practical Info

Detail Information

Location St Publius Square, Mdina — just inside the main city gate, palace on your right Opening Hours Daily 09:00–17:00 (last entry at 16:30); closed on Good Friday, 24–25 & 31 Dec, 1 Jan Admission Adults €5, Youths/Students/Seniors €3.50, Children (6–11) €2.50, Infants free. Heritage Malta members/passes enter free Access Short walk from public transport or sightseeing buses; central in Mdina

🧪 In Focus: Collections & Research

The museum holds over 1 million specimens and serves as Malta’s central repository for biological collections used by national and international researchers .

Collections have expanded significantly—especially bird specimens, which increased from 1,700 in the early 2000s to more than 10,000 today .

As part of its 50th anniversary, Heritage Malta invested approximately €300,000 in upgrades and renewed direction—including plans to reflect evolving roles and consider possible expansion or relocation for the future .

🛕 Visitor Tips & Recommendations

Allow around 1–1.5 hours to explore—ideal for families and anyone interested in Malta's natural heritage.

The past function as a palace and courthouse means you'll also spot original Baroque architecture and even surviving prison cells inside the museum .

Combine your visit with other historical sites within Mdina—it's a compact, scenic city rich in cultural heritage.

❓ Curious to know more?

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Current exhibitions...

This was an interesting venue, and it was somewhere my companion had intended to visit for some time. Unfortunately, the plan provided didn't make it clear that, to pass between the minerals room and the other rooms on the same level, you had to go downstairs, across the forecourt, then back up again, because of intervening offices! Signage for this and to the lavatories would have helped.

The booking clerk took one look at me, and (correctly) decided I must qualify for the over-sixties discount (€7 instead of €10)!

There is a room containing many examples of rocks, minerals and semi-precious stones, most with their chemical formulae and origins, that will be fascinating for those with a specialist interest in them (I admit that, after a time, I started to glaze over!).

Other rooms deal with the geology of Malta and Gozo, a section on each of the smaller islands, birds, insects and other wildlife found on the islands, and fish found in the surrounding waters.

We had a fascinating couple of hours, and may well return when we are next in Malta. All in all, well worth a visit, but be aware that the promised refreshment facilities are limited to a single machine, and there are no lifts...

The reviews on here aren’t that great, but I actually thought the museum was fine! There are three floors, so it’s quite large. Also included in the Malta Heritage Pass which is convenient too.

Out of the exhibits I recall there was one on the many species of birds in Malta; one more about shells and how they’re formed, which I found quite unique and cool; a room on turtles; one on butterflies and other insects; and much more!

In the central entrance (rather than the left main one), you can also go up and find a room full of cool types of stones and minerals. They had gold, silver, quartz, agate (our favorite!), iron, and more complicated types of rocks/minerals I didn’t even know about before. That was a really fun room to see!

Closing time is 4:30pm so be sure to exit by then, they might not check the whole place before locking the gate; once we got down it was already closed and had to be reopened...