Just inside Mdina’s imposing main gate sits the 18th- century Palazzo Vilhena, a grand residence commissioned by Grand Master António Manoel de Vilhena in 1728. Designed in the French Baroque style, its stately U-shaped forecourt and elegant balconies once hosted theatrical performances for Vilhena’s guests. Over the years, the palazzo saw many uses, first as a hospital during the 1837 cholera outbreak, and later as a sanatorium under British rule. Today, it houses Malta’s National Museum of Natural History, featuring fascinating displays on local geology, palaeontology, flora, and fauna.