Valletta, Malta - Grand Masters Palace Neptune's Courtyard - postcard c.1970s

• Postcard

   

• Picture / Image:  Malta [Valletta] - Grand Master's Palace (1574) - Neptune's Courtyard
• Publisher:  Malta Government Tourist Bureau / J Arthur Dixon
• Postally used:  no
• Stamp:  n/a
• Postmark(s): n/a
• Sent to:  n/a
• Notes / condition: 

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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The Grandmaster's Palace (Maltese: Il-Palazz tal-Granmastru), officially known as The Palace (Maltese: Il-Palazz), is a palace in Valletta, Malta. It was built between the 16th and 18th centuries as the palace of the Grand Master of the Order of St. John, who ruled Malta, and was also known as the Magisterial Palace (Maltese: Palazz Maġisterjali). It eventually became the Governor's Palace (Maltese: Palazz tal-Gvernatur), and it currently houses the Office of the President of Malta. Parts of the building, namely the Palace State Rooms and the Palace Armoury, are open to the public as a museum run by Heritage Malta.

The Grandmaster's Palace occupies a city block in the centre of Valletta, and it is the largest palace in the city.^[1] Its façade is located opposite the Main Guard in St. George's Square (Maltese: Misraħ San Ġorġ) along Republic Street (Maltese: Triq ir-Repubblika).^[2] The palace is also bounded by Archbishop Street (Maltese: Triq l-Arċisqof), Old Theatre Street (Maltese: Triq it-Teatru l-Antik) and Merchants Street (Maltese: Triq il-Merkanti).

The palace is built around two courtyards,^[18] which are now known as Neptune's Courtyard and Prince Alfred's Courtyard.

In 1712 Romano Carapecchia designed the Perellos fountain, originally dominating the courtyard under the loggias,^[19][20] but since the British period became hidden from the main view with the Statue of Neptune and a garden landscape in the middle.^[21] The statue was brought to decorate the courtyard, on orders of the British Governor John Gaspard Le Marchant, sometimes between 1858 and 1864.^[22]

Some escutcheons containing the coats of arms of Grand Masters of the Order are found affixed to the wall of one of the corridors of Neptune's Courtyard. These formerly adorned some of the Order's buildings, but they were removed in the 19th century. They were retrieved by Governor Sir Arthur Lyon Fremantle in 1897, and were affixed to the courtyard "for their better preservation", as indicated by a marble slab below the coats of arms.^[23]

Prince Alfred's Courtyard contains a clock tower, which includes the Moors Clock as well as three other dials. The clock was designed by Gaetano Vella and it was inaugurated on 11 June 1745, being modified by Michelangelo Sapiano in 1894. Local tradition states that the clock is much older, having been brought from Rhodes at the time of the Order's arrival in Malta in 1530.^[24]