The first of five cultural tours being organised by the Ministry of Tourism and Culture in collaboration with The Malta Council for Culture and The Arts (KMKA), Malta Tourism Authority (MTA) and Heritage Malta will take place on Sunday. Participants will first visit the three cities – Vittoriosa, Cospicua and Senglea, taking in the Couvre Porte and the Inquisitor’s Palace in Vittoriosa, il-Collachio, the Second World War Monument, the Collegiate Church of the Immaculate Conception in Cospicua and Gardjola Gardens in Senglea. The tour will also include various historical re-enactments designed to bring the story of these sites to life.

Participants will also enter the city of Vittoriosa through one of its most interesting features – the Three Gates. The tour will then proceed to the Inquisitor’s Palace which is currently hosting “The Art of Pain” exhibition on torture instruments from the middle ages until the 19th century.

The exhibition, usually based at the Torture Museum of San Gimignano in Siena, Italy, includes over a 100 disquieting and incredibly sophisticated pieces of equipment illustrating how human ingenuity knows no limits in the search for the most atrocious methods of inflicting pain.

Apart from access to this fascinating exhibition, at no extra cost, visitors will have the opportunity to explore the Inquisitor’s Palace. The Palace, in the heart of Vittoriosa, is one of the few surviving architectural examples which could be found all over Europe and South America at the time of its construction. The palace was erected in the 1530s as the civil law courts of the Order of St John soon after the Knights arrived in Malta.

The Inquisitor’s Palace is now home to the museum of Ethnography. It focuses on the popular devotions and religious values latent in Maltese ethnic identity and culture up to the present day.

From the Inquisitor’s Palace, the tour will then move on into the heart of Vittoriosa, known as Il-Collachio – an area of the city reserved specifically for members of the Order of St John. Within the Collachio still stand the various early Auberges, set up by the Knights on their arrival in Malta following their expulsion from Rhodes.

From Vittoriosa, the tour will then move on to Cospicua, the plans for which were laid out in 1717 on a grid pattern. Participants will visit the church dedicated to the Immaculate Conception, which was originally built in 1584, enlarged in 1637 and finally consecrated in 1732. Pope Pius VII conferred Collegiate status to the Church in 1828.

The final stop will be the Gardjola Gardens in Senglea which was also planned on a grid pattern in 1551 by Grandmaster De La Sengle. Here, one can enjoy the panoramic view which includes from right to left, the docks, Marsa, Valletta, the entrance to the Grand Harbour and Fort St Angelo. The sentry box placed at the tip of the bastion – il-gardjola – epitomises the role of the fortifications around the harbour. On the sentry box, there are sculptured in high relief various symbols of watchfulness, namely the eye, the ear and the crane bird.

The four remaining cultural tours will take place on 13 March, 3 April, 17 April and 8 May. The Cultural Tours may be extended to historic sites in Gozo but further details will be announced at a later date.

The tours which will run until May will also include visits to the area around Rabat, Mdina, Dingli and Buskett, a tour of Valletta as well as a visit to various sites in and around Mgarr, Malta.

Participation is open to those over the age of five.

Tickets are available from The Malta Council for Culture and The Arts at a cost of Lm 3.25 for adults, Lm 2.90 for pensioners and children under 12 years of age, for each tour. Those who wish to participate in all five tours will benefit from a special price of Lm15 for adults or Lm13 for pensioners and children under 12.

Bookings and payments can be made at the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts, Casa Gaspe, 230 Republic Street, Valletta CMR 02 (Monday to Friday between 8.00am and 3.30pm.).

Transport is also available. The tours will be departing at 8.45am from Floriana, next to the Independence Monument or from The Strand in Sliema.

Further information may be obtained by calling Mr Noel D’Amato or Mr Noel Sammut at KMKA on Tel. 21232515.