Palazzo Malta, which is sometimes referred to as Palazzo di Malta or Palazzo dell'Ordine di Malta, is the more important of the two headquarters

Headquarters

Headquarters denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the top of a corporation taking full responsibility managing all business activities...

 of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (the other being Villa Malta

Villa Malta

Villa del Priorato di Malta, on the Aventine Hill is home to the Grand Priory in Rome of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, an order of chivalry, which remains a sovereign entity. It also hosts the embassy of the Order of Malta to Italy...

), an order of chivalry. It is located in Via dei Condotti 68 in Rome, Italy, a few minutes' walk from the Spanish Steps

Spanish Steps

The Spanish Steps are a set of steps in Rome, Italy, climbing a steep slope between the Piazza di Spagna at the base and Piazza Trinità dei Monti, dominated by the Trinità dei Monti church at the top. The Scalinata is the widest staircase in Europe...

, and has been granted extraterritoriality

Extraterritoriality

Extraterritoriality is the state of being exempt from the jurisdiction of local law, usually as the result of diplomatic negotiations. Extraterritoriality can also be applied to physical places, such as military bases of foreign countries, or offices of the United Nations...

 by the Italian Government and is now the property of the Order.

Context

On June 12, 1798, the French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 forces under Napoleon Bonaparte captured the city of Valletta

Valletta

Valletta is the capital of Malta, colloquially known as Il-Belt in Maltese. It is located in the central-eastern portion of the island of Malta, and the historical city has a population of 6,098. The name "Valletta" is traditionally reserved for the historic walled citadel that serves as Malta's...

, Malta, which was the capital of the Order of Malta. The Order of Malta had been given the island

Malta

Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...

 by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor

Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...

 in 1530. Napoleon left the city with a sizeable garrison

Garrison

Garrison is the collective term for a body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it, but now often simply using it as a home base....

 and a handpicked administration. On September 5, 1800, the British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 conquered the island from the French forces which had been holding it. Malta was made a British colony on March 30, 1814 by the Treaty of Paris

Treaty of Paris (1814)

The Treaty of Paris, signed on 30 May 1814, ended the war between France and the Sixth Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars, following an armistice signed on 23 May between Charles, Count of Artois, and the allies...

.

Thus, the Order of Malta was left without any territory, and it was effectively disbanded. It was restored, however, in 1834, under the new name "Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes

Rhodes

Rhodes is an island in Greece, located in the eastern Aegean Sea. It is the largest of the Dodecanese islands in terms of both land area and population, with a population of 117,007, and also the island group's historical capital. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within...

 and of Malta", or simply the "Sovereign Military Order of Malta" (SMOM). New headquarters were set up at Palazzo Malta. In 1869, the Palazzo Malta, and the other headquarters of the Order, Villa Malta

Villa Malta

Villa del Priorato di Malta, on the Aventine Hill is home to the Grand Priory in Rome of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, an order of chivalry, which remains a sovereign entity. It also hosts the embassy of the Order of Malta to Italy...

, were granted extraterritoriality by Italy. Today they are recognised by more than 100 countries as the independent headquarters of a sovereign entity, with mutual diplomatic relations established.

History

Antonio Bosio

Antonio Bosio

Antonio Bosio was an Italian scholar, the first systematic explorer of subterranean Rome , author of Roma Sotterranea and first urban spelunker.-Biography:Bosio was born in Malta....

, the famed Italian archeologist whose father was the representative of the Order of Malta to the Holy See

Holy See

The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...

, bought a building on what was then the Via Trinitatis which become Palazzo Malta; when he died in 1629, he bequeathed the building to the Order of Malta. Until 1834, the building was used as the home of the ambassador

Ambassador

An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....

 of the Order to the Holy See

Holy See

The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...

. From 1889 to 1894, the building was renovated

Renovation

Renovation is the process of improving a structure. Two prominent types of renovations are commercial and residential.-Process:The process of a renovation, however complex, can usually be broken down into several processes...

 and restructured, with the original characteristics of the building being retained for the most part.

The Palazzo

Since March 11, 2008, His Most Eminent Highness Fra' Matthew Festing, the 79th Prince and Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, has resided in the Palazzo Malta. The majority of governmental and administrative duties are carried out there also.

The building itself is made of ashlar

Ashlar

Ashlar is prepared stone work of any type of stone. Masonry using such stones laid in parallel courses is known as ashlar masonry, whereas masonry using irregularly shaped stones is known as rubble masonry. Ashlar blocks are rectangular cuboid blocks that are masonry sculpted to have square edges...

 blocks, and it is crowned with a corbel

Corbel

In architecture a corbel is a piece of stone jutting out of a wall to carry any superincumbent weight. A piece of timber projecting in the same way was called a "tassel" or a "bragger". The technique of corbelling, where rows of corbels deeply keyed inside a wall support a projecting wall or...

led cornice

Cornice

Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.The function of the projecting...

.