Twelve information pods have been unveiled during the latest phase of the Migration Museum and Visitors’ Centre, each offering multimedia information about destinations chosen by the thousands of Maltese migrants over the past decades.

Bank of Valletta has sponsored the pod dedicated to Australia, a continent where the Maltese have made a tremendous impact. The Bank has a Representative Office in Melbourne, which is instrumental in helping the migrants there to retain their economic links with their home country.

At the museum in Dar l-Emigrant in Valletta, Monsignor Philip Calleja has painstakingly archived anything and everything related to emigration, chronicling the impact that migrants had on their environment. The museum's location is also fitting because it is at a perfect vantage point, just behind the Upper Barrakka gardens in Valletta, where one could have had a clear view of migrant ships leaving for faraway, unknown lands in the 1940s and 50s.

The digital museum assists in the easy dissemination of information among visitors, students, scholars and the public using the latest interactive multimedia technology. The information is brought to life via numerous touch screens, video projections and showcases, thereby enhancing the impact of the content on the visitors to the museum.

Fr Alfred Vella , Emigrants Commission Director, says special presentations, film screenings and academic conferences on migration problems in the past and present are being planned. Speaking to Fr Vella, one gets a sense of his enthusiasm for a campaign targeting school visits.

The museum’s ultimate objectives will eventually serve to examine the history of Maltese emigration and encourage academic research in related fields of Maltese emigration amongst University students.  The Museum will house the largest body of research material and memorabilia related to Maltese emigration.  All visitors can expect an impressive combination of in-depth information and much food for thought.

The Migration Museum is committed to making its exhibits, programs, and services accessible to everyone in reaching the refurbished rooftop of the Museum, which will serve to tell the story of sea immigration which played such a huge part in our history.
 

The digital section on the top floor of the museum uses state-of-the-art audiovisuals while digital archiving of numerous documents and photos is also providing people with the opportunity to search for information quickly and easily.

The Migration Museum and Visitors’ Centre is situated at Dar l-Emigrant, the headquarters of the Emigrants’ Commission, near the Upper Barrakka, Valletta.