Mdina Cathedral and museum: tickets, opening hours and what to see

Mdina Cathedral: two buildings, one ticket

The Mdina Cathedral (formally St Paul’s Metropolitan Cathedral) is one of the two co-cathedrals of the Archdiocese of Malta — the other being St John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta. The Mdina cathedral predates Valletta by centuries: a church has stood on this site since the 4th century CE, built on the supposed location where St Paul, shipwrecked on Malta in 60 CE, was welcomed by the Roman governor Publius (who later converted to Christianity).

The current structure dates primarily from 1702, rebuilt after an earthquake destroyed the earlier Norman cathedral in 1693. The architect, Lorenzo Gafà, created a Spanish-influenced baroque building that is more restrained than the explosion of gilded stone in St John’s but has its own considerable dignity.

The adjacent Cathedral Museum, housed in a 17th-century seminary building, is a separate entity from the cathedral itself and requires an additional or combined ticket. It contains some of the most important objects in the Mdina complex — and an art collection that surprises most visitors who arrive expecting religious kitsch.

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Ticket prices and what they cover

Cathedral only

Entry to the cathedral proper (nave, side chapels, crypt) is technically free as a place of worship — but in practice, a voluntary donation contribution is expected and a small admission is charged at the door for the general visit. Confirm the current arrangement at the cathedral entrance.

Cathedral Museum ticket

• Adult: approximately €6–8
• Reduced (student, 60+): €4–5
• Child under 12: free
• Note: this is a diocesan-managed property, not a Heritage Malta site. It is not included in the Heritage Malta multi-pass.

Mdina Cathedral Museum entry ticket

Combined ticket (cathedral + museum)

A combined ticket providing access to both the cathedral and the museum is available at the cathedral entrance. This is the recommended option — the museum is the reason most culturally motivated visitors come to Mdina Cathedral.

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Inside the cathedral: what to see

The nave and marble floor

Like St John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta, the Mdina Cathedral has a marble tombstone floor — though less extensive and less elaborate. The tombs belong to Maltese nobility and senior clergy. The columns and nave walls are in a warm local limestone (Lower Globigerina) that creates a golden-brown interior very different from the grey stone typical of northern European cathedrals.

The Mattia Preti altarpiece

The apse is dominated by a large altarpiece by Mattia Preti (1613–1699), the Calabrian artist who did the most work on St John’s Co-Cathedral ceiling. The painting depicts the Shipwreck of St Paul — the defining event in Maltese Christian origin — with Preti’s characteristic dramatic lighting and crowd composition.

The crypt

Below the cathedral, an early Christian crypt (accessible from within the cathedral) contains tombs dating from the early medieval period. The carved reliefs in the crypt are relatively simple but the atmosphere is excellent. If Roman archaeology interests you, note that a section of Roman mosaic floor was discovered during crypt excavations in the 20th century — the original mosaic is in the Cathedral Museum above.

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The Cathedral Museum: the surprising highlight

The Cathedral Museum is housed in the old seminary of 1733, a beautiful building in its own right. The collection spans five centuries and covers areas that most general Malta visitors do not expect to find in a cathedral museum.

The Albrecht Dürer prints

The most significant item in the collection for art historians: a comprehensive set of Albrecht Dürer woodcut prints from the early 16th century. Dürer’s woodcuts — the Apocalypse series, the Life of the Virgin, the Large Passion — represent the apogee of the medium and were among the most widely reproduced images in 16th-century Europe.

The Mdina collection was likely acquired by the Knights of Malta through their European connections and arrived in Malta during the 16th–17th century. Few visitors expect to find a significant Dürer collection in a small Maltese cathedral town, and the prints are displayed in a room that allows close inspection. For anyone with an interest in Renaissance print-making, this collection alone justifies the museum admission.

Goya etching

A small but notable Goya etching from the Caprichos series is in the collection. Goya’s Caprichos (1799) are satirical and surrealist prints; the Mdina example is displayed alongside the Dürer collection in the print rooms.

Baroque painting gallery

A series of rooms contains Baroque paintings by Maltese and Sicilian artists of the 17th–18th centuries: devotional altarpieces, portraits of bishops and senior clergy, and some surprising genre scenes. The collection is not comprehensive but the quality of the best paintings is high.

The Cathedral’s silver treasury

An entire room is devoted to the cathedral’s accumulated silver treasury: processional crosses, chalices, reliquaries and altarware spanning four centuries. The most elaborate pieces date from the 18th century, when the diocese received significant bequests from Malta’s nobility. The Maltese baroque silver tradition is closely related to the Sicilian tradition and reflects the islands’ close historical connections.

Roman mosaic floor section

A section of the Roman mosaic floor found beneath the crypt during 20th-century excavations is displayed in the museum. The mosaic is modest by the standards of Roman Italy but significant in the Maltese context — it demonstrates the continuity of settlement at this specific site from Roman times through the early Christian period to the present cathedral.

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Opening hours

• Monday to Saturday: approximately 09:30–16:30
• Sunday: 14:00–16:30 (limited access; cathedral open for masses in the morning)
• Closed on some Catholic feast days

The museum keeps slightly shorter hours than the cathedral. Confirm at the museum entrance.

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Combining Mdina Cathedral with a Mdina day

Mdina is a small walled city — the entire circuit of the walls is less than 1 km. Most visitors can cover the main points of interest in 2–3 hours. A logical sequence:

Enter by the main gate: the baroque gate at the west end is architecturally significant. Cathedral and museum: 60–90 minutes. Mdina walking route: the narrow lanes, the bastions with views over central Malta, the Palazzo Falson (Norman House museum). Rabat (immediately adjacent): St Paul’s Catacombs, Domvs Romana — both Heritage Malta sites.

Full walking guide: Mdina half-day plan.

For guided cathedral and Mdina combined tours:

Private historical city walking tour of Mdina with Rabat

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St John’s in Valletta vs Mdina Cathedral: which to prioritise?

St John’s Co-Cathedral (Valletta): larger, more dramatically ornate, houses the Caravaggio paintings, more crowded, €15 ticket. Indisputably the higher-priority visit for first-time Malta visitors.

Mdina Cathedral: more intimate, the museum has the Dürer collection, combined ticket approximately €6–8, typically much quieter. A complementary visit rather than a substitute.

Recommendation: if you have time for both, do St John’s on a Valletta day and Mdina Cathedral on a separate Mdina and Rabat day. If you can only do one, St John’s is the choice.

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Practical tips

Photography: permitted inside the cathedral without flash. The museum may have photography restrictions on individual items — ask at the entrance.

Dress code: the cathedral is an active place of worship. Shoulders must be covered (scarves available for loan at the entrance, as at other Maltese churches).

Accessibility: the cathedral is accessible at ground level. The museum’s upper floors require stairs.

Time required: 30 minutes for the cathedral alone, 60–90 minutes for cathedral plus full museum.

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Frequently asked questions about Mdina Cathedral

Is Mdina Cathedral covered by the Heritage Malta multi-pass?

No. The cathedral and its museum are managed by the Diocese of Malta, not Heritage Malta. They require a separate ticket.

Are there guided tours of the cathedral?

Yes — several Mdina walking tour operators include the cathedral. Some specialist tours focus specifically on the art history of the cathedral and museum. The audio guide option at the museum is adequate for most visitors.

When is the cathedral least crowded?

Weekday afternoons (14:00–16:00) are generally quietest. Morning tours (10:00–12:00) from Valletta and Sliema tend to arrive in groups around 11:00–12:00. Saturday mornings are busier than weekday mornings.

Can children visit the museum?

Yes. The museum is not specifically child-oriented but is quiet and not overwhelming. The Roman mosaic section and the silver treasury tend to interest children more than the painting galleries. Allow 45 minutes for a child-paced museum visit.

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The Dürer prints in detail: what you are looking at

The Albrecht Dürer collection in the Cathedral Museum is more significant than the brief museum description implies. This section gives art history context for visitors who want to understand what they are seeing.

Who was Albrecht Dürer?

Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528) was a German artist from Nuremberg, regarded as the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance and the painter and printmaker who most effectively absorbed Italian Renaissance ideas and transmitted them to northern Europe. His woodcuts and engravings circulated more widely in 16th-century Europe than the work of any other artist, including Leonardo da Vinci — prints could be reproduced at scale; paintings could not.

Dürer’s importance in the history of art is roughly equivalent to Caravaggio’s — a figure who defined the direction of a medium for a generation after him.

The major series represented in Mdina

The Cathedral Museum collection includes examples from Dürer’s principal series:

The Apocalypse (1498): 15 woodcut prints depicting the Book of Revelation. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the most famous image, comes from this series. Dürer’s Apocalypse was the first major illustrated book published by an artist rather than a printer — Dürer controlled the production and distribution himself. The series made him famous across Europe within a year of publication.

The Large Passion (1498–1510): 12 woodcuts depicting the Passion of Christ from the Garden of Gethsemane to the Resurrection. Among the most technically accomplished woodcuts ever produced — the level of fine line work required to produce the tonal range Dürer achieves in the shadows and drapery was unprecedented.

The Life of the Virgin (1500–1511): 20 woodcuts on the life of the Virgin Mary. More domestic and lyrical in tone than the Passion series, these prints were among Dürer’s most popular works in his lifetime.

How the collection arrived in Malta

The route by which a comprehensive Dürer print collection arrived in a cathedral museum in Mdina is not fully documented, but the most likely explanation is the Knights of St John’s European connections. The Knights maintained Auberges (national houses) across Europe and had active cultural exchanges with Germany, Italy, Spain and France. A senior German Knight or benefactor may have brought the prints as a donation to the diocese in the 16th or 17th century.

Alternatively, they may have been acquired during the 17th or 18th centuries through the Mdina Cathedral’s continuous contact with ecclesiastical patrons across Catholic Europe.

Seeing the prints

The prints are displayed in a room of the museum dedicated to the graphic arts collection. The lighting is deliberately low (standard archival practice for works on paper). The display cases allow examination at close range. If you have a particular interest in one series, ask the museum staff — they can sometimes direct you to the best-preserved examples in the collection.

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Mdina’s history: context for the cathedral

Understanding Mdina’s role in Maltese history makes the cathedral visit more meaningful.

The oldest capital

Mdina (in Arabic: “the city”) was the principal settlement of Malta from the Roman period through the Arab occupation (870–1090 CE) through the Norman, Aragonese and Castilian periods that preceded the Knights of St John. When the Knights arrived in Malta in 1530, they chose to make Birgu (across Grand Harbour from Valletta) their headquarters because it had a better harbour — but Mdina remained the seat of the Maltese nobility and the diocese.

After the Great Siege of 1565 and the building of Valletta (completed 1571), the centre of gravity shifted to the new capital permanently. Mdina became what it remains today: a small, extraordinarily preserved medieval walled city with a permanent population of under 300 people. Its stillness and its remarkable state of preservation are direct results of its decline from political relevance in the 16th century.

The Norman architectural layers

The cathedral was built in 1702, but the fabric of the city around it is earlier. The Mdina main gate dates from 1724. Several palaces retain Norman-period elements (12th–13th century) — the Palazzo Falson (Norman House), a short walk from the cathedral, is the best preserved Norman domestic building in Malta and is open to visitors with a separate admission.

The 1693 earthquake

The current cathedral replaced a Norman-era cathedral destroyed in the earthquake of January 11, 1693. The earthquake devastated eastern Sicily and southern Malta simultaneously (the same tectonic event) and killed an estimated 2,000 people in Malta and 60,000 in Sicily. The destruction of the medieval cathedral left only the Chapel of St Paul intact (the oldest surviving element, still visible on the north side of the current building).

Lorenzo Gafà, the Maltese architect who designed the replacement cathedral, was working in the tradition of Roman high baroque — he had studied in Rome and was familiar with Bernini’s work. The 1702 cathedral shows his synthesis of Roman baroque with the local limestone palette.

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The Mdina Cathedral in the landscape of Maltese churches

Malta has an extraordinary density of churches — 365 in a country of 320 km squared, one for every day of the year by popular count (the actual number is higher). They range from wayside chapels to the baroque magnificence of St John’s in Valletta.

The Mdina Cathedral sits in the middle tier: larger and more significant than the average parish church, but smaller and less ornate than St John’s. What distinguishes it is not scale but content — the museum’s collection and the Mattia Preti altarpiece are genuinely exceptional for a building of its size.

For visitors working through a list of Malta’s most important religious buildings:

1. St John’s Co-Cathedral, Valletta — the unambiguous first priority. Full guide here.
2. Mdina Cathedral and museum — the second priority for art history reasons.
3. Mosta Rotunda — the third largest unsupported dome in Europe. Architecturally impressive; the wartime bomb-that-didn’t-explode story is well-known.
4. St Paul’s Cathedral, Rabat — small, quiet, connected to the St Paul’s catacomb complex nearby.

The Mdina Cathedral’s Dürer prints are the strongest reason to place it second on this list rather than third. No other church or cathedral museum in Malta has a comparable graphic arts collection.

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Buying a combined Mdina day ticket

Several tour operators offer guided walking tours of Mdina and Rabat that include the cathedral (with museum) as part of the route. These tours are worth considering because:

• The guide provides the context that makes the Dürer prints, the Goya etching, and the Mattia Preti altarpiece intelligible rather than simply present
• Mdina’s lanes are best explained by someone who knows the city’s medieval layout
• Combining Mdina with the adjacent Rabat (St Paul’s Catacombs, Domvs Romana) makes maximum use of the journey from Valletta

The guided Mdina and Rabat combination is particularly recommended for first-time Malta visitors who want to understand the island’s pre-Knights history in a single day. The Mdina half-day plan covers the logistics in detail.

Last reviewed: 2026-04-20