SELMUN PALACE - NORTH OF MALTA

AIRVŪZ STAFF NOTE : Selmun Palace is an important historical landmark on the northeastern shore of Malta, the Mediterranean island. The palace was constructed in the early 17th century by an institution which was set up to pay ransom for Christians abducted by Muslim pirates. It became a sort of Early Modern resort for the Knights of St. John, members of the military-religious order that ruled Malta for centuries and who did plenty of pirating of their own. Later a hotel, the palace closed in 2010 but is a protected monument under Maltese law.

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elmun Palace was built by the Monte della Redenzione degli Schiavi, a charity that was founded during the reign of Grand Master Alof de Wignacourt in 1607 to finance the redemption of Christians enslaved by Ottomans or Barbary corsairs.[5] The site of the villa originally contained a coastal lookout post, and it was part of a large estate which also included the Mistra Gate. The estate had been left to the Monte di Redenzione by the noblewoman Caterina Vitale upon her death in 1619.[6] The villa used to be rented out to knights of the Order of Saint John as a place to relax and hunt wild rabbits, which were commonly found in the area. The rent money contributed to the redemption fund.[7][8] The villa itself was built the sometime in the 18th century, although the exact date of construction is not known. The earliest record of the structure is on a 1783 map, when it was referred to as Torre Nuova (new tower). The palace's architect is unknown, but it is sometimes attributed to Domenico Cachia.[9] During the period of the Maltese rebellion against the French, the British utilised the villa as a naval hospital, the first in Malta to be used for such purpose.[10] In the 1840s, a semaphore station was installed on the villa.[11] The building was included on the Antiquities List of 1925.[12]