Malta Is Quietly Turning into One of many World’s Hottest Artwork Locations—How you can Expertise It

By the point the Uber dropped me off on the limestone plaza, greater than 500 artists, collectors, ambassadors, and dignitaries had taken their seats, trying sharp in black tie and sparkly clothes. A hoop-shaped sculpture, crafted from wheel rims and crystal whiskey glasses, shone vibrant like a diamond underneath the pink night sky. 

After a speech by Malta’s youthful prime minister, Robert Abela, fireworks lit up the traditional harbor to mark the grand opening of the Malta Worldwide Up to date Artwork Area, or MICAS. The glass-and-steel museum is just not merely a showcase for modern artwork. It seeks to burnish this small nation’s place within the artwork world, in the identical means that the Guggenheim remodeled the commercial Spanish metropolis of Bilbao into a compulsory cease on the artwork circuit.

“Malta will turn into part of the worldwide modern artwork scene,” mentioned Francis Sultana, a famous inside designer from London, earlier than he led a VIP tour of the museum. Raised in Malta, Sultana can also be the nation’s ambassador of tradition and retains an art-filled palazzo on the town.

Final yr, the nation additionally hosted the primary Malta Biennale, becoming a member of a group of Mediterranean modern artwork hubs that features the Greek island of Hydra and Ibiza and Menorca, in Spain.

Floating between Sicily and North Africa, this archipelago nation—about twice the dimensions of Brooklyn—is understood for its 300 days of sunshine, crystal-blue waters, megalithic temples, and good-looking limestone structure. It additionally has a wealthy and layered tradition, having been occupied by a revolving door of international rulers, most just lately the British, earlier than gaining its independence in 1964. 

Because the pandemic, Malta has seen a surge in tourism, particularly from Italy and France. The once-quiet alleyways of Valletta, its UNESCO-protected capital, now echo with the din of late-night cafés and bars. Cruise-ship visitors has spiked, as have low-cost carriers to the European Union’s smallest member state. Constructed with authorities backing, MICAS is a part of a bid to draw extra cultured and prosperous vacationers. 

I arrived a few days earlier than the museum’s opening final October, and checked in to the Phoenicia Malta, a 77-year-old grande dame that after hosted Queen Elizabeth II. After a chunk on its terrace, I explored town’s galleries—all a brief stroll away, simply previous the angular Metropolis Gate designed by Renzo Piano a decade in the past.

A great place to begin was Il-Lokal, a present store and gallery that serves as a sort of neighborhood hub. Flyers for artwork reveals have been tacked onto a bulletin board, underneath a purple neon signal that learn supporting locals. The shop had an art-school vibe, partly as a result of its employees tends to be ltade up of scholars.

Close by was MużA, a well-edited museum in a centuries-old stone constructing that reveals a variety of works spanning the fifteenth to twenty first centuries. “Topia,” an set up by the London-based artist Barnaby Barford, had opened the day past and consisted of 1,000 brick-size miniatures of Maltese storefronts, painted on bone china and stacked atop a rock wall.

Subsequent door was Spazju Kreattiv (Maltese for “inventive house”), housed in a Sixteenth-century fort that was transformed 25 years in the past into an art-house cinema, a theater, and galleries. There was a retrospective on Alfred Chircop, an area summary painter who died in 2015. I’d by no means heard of him, so I Googled his title. It was clear from the copious evaluations over the many years that Malta holds its artists in excessive regard. 

Malta’s assist for artists, it seems, goes fairly far again. The next morning, I stood in line to catch a glimpse of Caravaggio’s Beheading of St. John the Baptist at St. John’s Co-Cathedral, one of many island’s two cathedrals. The portray was accomplished in 1608, throughout Caravaggio’s temporary and troubled keep on the island (the artist bought right into a brawl with the Knights of Malta and was expelled, however not earlier than he’d accomplished his fee for St. John’s, the place the masterpiece nonetheless hangs). 

After the cathedral, I continued my gallery crawl. Though Valletta was constructed on a grid, I discovered myself getting misplaced on its steep, stone-paved roads. Apart from Republic Road, the industrial hall, the roads have been largely lined with mom-and-pops, small eating places, grocers, and different shops with hand-painted indicators. I used to be struck by the closed wood balconies that protruded from façades throughout the island. Painted in copper inexperienced, navy, or fire-engine purple, these gallariji (higher generally known as Maltese balconies) provided flashes of colour in a sea of honey hued limestone. 

After popping into a number of different artwork areas, together with a scrappy experimental artwork gallery contained in the Malta Postal Museum & Arts Hub (sadly, a present had simply closed after I visited), I made my strategy to Valletta Up to date, maybe probably the most prestigious of Malta’s unbiased galleries. Set in a 400-year-old warehouse with glossy concrete flooring and a minimalist design, the gallery wouldn’t look misplaced in Berlin or New York Metropolis, particularly with its roster of blue-chip artists on show: Georg Baselitz, Joseph Beuys, Ai Weiwei, and Tracey Emin. 

For lunch, I went to the Iniala Harbour Home, a 23-room designer resort crammed with moody, summary artworks curated by Maria Galea, an influential native determine who runs a gallery within the close by city of Sliema. I took an elevator to its rooftop restaurant, ION Harbour by Simon Rogan, which was just lately awarded two Michelin stars—a primary for Malta. The eight-course farm-to-table menu included truffle pudding, stuffed rabbit, and a bee-pollen cake so fairly I may barely deliver myself to eat it. The restaurant additionally had stunning views of the Three Cities of Malta, a trio of fortified villages throughout the harbor. 

That impressed me to stroll off lunch by taking a circuitous stroll right down to the docks seeking a water taxi. A gondola-like vessel with a yellow cover pulled up, and I climbed onboard with two different passengers. As we skittered throughout the teal-blue waters and the monumental forts of the Three Cities got here into view, I thought of how Malta nonetheless appeared like an island of riches, safeguarding its treasures behind these golden partitions. I might have gotten out to discover, however the line to reboard was lengthy, so the three of us stayed put and rode again. 

As of late, it’s the art-world elite who appear to be the brand new gatekeepers of wealth. After the fireworks cleared at MICAS, the champagne flowed, hors d’oeuvres have been handed, and Joana Vasconcelos—the Portuguese artist whose playful, large-scale works have been the topic of the museum’s inaugural exhibition—held court docket in a bejeweled purple robe. Her entourage, which included a number of assistants and a meditation coach, adopted carefully behind her. 

In some ways, Vasconcelos was the proper artist to christen the museum. She is revered by the artwork institution. Her work is intellectually probing, whereas additionally a crowd-pleaser (she encourages the general public to the touch her colourful, joy-filled items). And she or he is on a mission to make artwork accessible—simply as Malta is attempting to do. 

A model of this story first appeared within the October 2025 difficulty of Journey + Leisure underneath the headline “Taking Root.”