The Palace Tapestries: How the tapestries came to be

Stqarrija bil-Malti Agħfas Hawn / Press Release in Maltese Click Here Newspost | 25th September 2026 On the morning of 2nd June 1710, a line of mules set off at a slow pace from Paris on their way to the port of Marseille. What they were carrying was then loaded onto a sailing vessel that departed for Malta. It was a journey straight out of a film, because the ship was seized by pirates from North Africa, who refused to let it go until they were paid handsomely to release that precious cargo along with the ship itself. But at last, towards the end of summer, the cargo was unloaded on the shores of the Grand Harbour. Whoever opened that merchandise and laid eyes on it for the first time must surely have been astonished by its beauty. The tapestries of the Grand Master’s Palace had arrived in Malta. During the time of the Knights of St John, every new Grand Master would give what was known as a gioia – a gift to the Order from his own pocket on the occasion of his appointment. The tapestries of the Grand Master’s Palace formed part of the gioia of the Spanish Grand Master Ramon Perellos, who took office in February 1697 and became known for his generosity in these gifts to the Order. In August 1708, Perellos wrote to the Ambassador of the Order in Paris and instructed him to oversee the commission of a set of tapestries for his palace in Valletta. In fact, two months later a contract was signed with the Gobelins manufactory in Paris for the completion, by March 1710, of a set of ten large wall tapestries, seven window hangings, and one door hanging. According to the Grand Master’s wishes, the tapestries were to resemble those of the royal palace of Versailles in France, but with some adjustments, since the Versailles set contains eight large tapestries, not ten. The tapestries were woven from a set of designs, known as cartoons, titled Tenture des Indes. These were based on drawings made by two artists – Albert Eckhout and Frans Post – during a seven‑year expedition in the first half of the 17th century in Africa and South America, in lands discovered only a century earlier. After the expedition, the drawings were presented to several European leaders and monarchs, including King Louis XIV of France, who passed them on to the director of the Gobelins manufactory so that tapestries for his palace could be woven from them. The scenes depicted in the tapestries of the Grand Master’s Palace still inspire awe today, let alone three centuries ago, when even the wealthiest Europeans had never experienced the exotic landscapes of distant continents. From elephants and rhinoceroses to zebras and leopards, figures dressed in their traditional attire, insects and birds never seen before, the tapestries were, and remain, a colourful feast of geography and natural history that fires the imagination and leaves one breathless. Fittingly, Grand Master Perellos left his mark on them. His heraldic arms appear both in the centre of the upper border of the large tapestries and being carried by slaves from Turkey and Barbary in the window and door hangings. The wonder of the Grand Master’s Palace tapestries does not stop with the colourful weave of scenes rich in detail. It also lies in the fact that this is the only complete surviving set of tapestries created from the original cartoons, and in the fact that they have hung for more than 300 years in the hall named after them. Other masterpieces were stolen during foreign occupations or lost amid the destruction of the Second World War, but the tapestries remained in place, reminding us of distant events and of the boundless artistic skill of humankind. Latest News Press Releases | 23rd September 2026 Wied Dalam Comes To Life As A New Green Space At Għar Dalam Press Releases | 4th September 2026 MUŻA Celebrates 150 Years of Edward Caruana Dingli Press Releases | 31st August 2026 Shining A Different Light On History In Rabat And Mdina Press Releases | 19th August 2026 Board and Management of the Malta Biennale Foundation Appointed