Żabbar Sanctuary Museum
About This Museum
Tucked away beside the grand Sanctuary of Our Lady of Graces, our little parish museum has been keeping the town's memories safe since 1954. It’s a proper cabinet of curiosities, where you can find everything from ex-voto paintings left by grateful sailors to regimental drums from the time of the Knights. The air is still and quiet, thick with the scent of old wood and history, making it feel more like a personal treasure trove than a formal institution. Stepping inside is like visiting your nanna's attic, if your nanna had collected centuries of Żabbar's heart and soul.
Collection Highlights
You'll be drawn to the touching, naive ex-votos—small paintings depicting shipwrecks and miracles—given in thanks for divine intervention. Don't miss Napoleon's stirrups, a quirky relic from his brief stop on the island, alongside some beautifully crafted silver processional crosses and historic parish documents.
Visitor Information
It's right there next to the Sanctuary, so you can't miss it. Best to ask at the parish office for opening times; they're friendly and will let you in for a look around.
Architecture & Building
Housed in a traditional Maltese building with characteristic limestone walls, it feels like a natural extension of the much larger and more ornate Baroque sanctuary it adjoins.
