The Gran Castello Historic House (Maltese: ''Dar Storika tal-Gran Kastell''), formerly known as the Folklore Museum, is a

historic house museum A historic house museum is a house of historic significance that is preserved as a museum. Historic furnishings may be displayed in a way that reflects their original placement and usage in a home. Historic house museums are held to a variety of ...

dedicated to Gozitan folklore in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

Gozo Gozo ( ), known in classical antiquity, antiquity as Gaulos, is an island in the Malta#The Maltese archipelago, Maltese archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. The island is part of the Republic of Malta. After the Malta Island, island of Malta ...

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

. It is located within a cluster of 16th-century houses in the

Cittadella Cittadella () is a medieval walled city in the province of Padua, northern Italy, founded in the 13th century as a military outpost of Padua. The surrounding wall has been restored and is in circumference with a diameter of around . There are fo ...

, the oldest part of the city of Victoria; the houses were rehabilitated as a museum in 1983. The museum's collections relate to the domestic, rural and traditional ways of life in the agrarian economy of the Maltese Islands and the many skills, crafts and traditions that have shaped everyday life on the islands over the centuries. The architectural features of the buildings housing the museum are in Sicilian style, and may owe something to the influence of the

Chiaramonte The Chiaramonte are a noble family of Sicily. They became the most powerful and wealthy family in Sicily. In the 13th century the marriage of Manfredi Chiaramonte to Isabella Mosca, united the two Sicilian counties of Modica and Ragusa. Ar ...

family of

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

and southern

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

when they were Counts of Malta in the late 14th century. Delicate baroque façades countervail the relative plainness of the interiors. It was renamed from Folklore Museum to Gran Castello Historic House museum in 2016, during the restoration of the Cittadella.

References

{{Authority control Folk museums in Europe Victoria, Gozo Museums established in 1983 Historic house museums in Malta Sites managed by Heritage Malta

See also

References