page_title: Castellania (Valletta)
section_title: Department and Ministry for Health
hierarchical_section_title: Castellania (Valletta) / Later and present use / Department and Ministry for Health
caption_attribution_description: English: Sir Themistocles Zammit's lab within the Castellania in Valletta, Malta
context_page_description: The Castellania, also known as the Castellania Palace, is a former courthouse and prison in Valletta, Malta. It was built by the Order of St. John between 1757 and 1760, on the site of an earlier courthouse which had been built in 1572.
  The building was built in the Baroque style to design of the architect Francesco Zerafa, and completed by Giuseppe Bonici. It is a prominent building in Merchants Street, having an ornate façade with an elaborate marble centrepiece. Features of the interior include former court halls, a chapel, prison cells, a statue of Lady Justice at the main staircase and an ornate fountain in the courtyard.
  From the late 18th to the early 19th century, the building was also known by a number of names, including the Palazzo del Tribunale, the Palais de Justice and the Gran Corte della Valletta. By the mid-19th century the building was deemed too small, and the courts were gradually moved to Auberge d'Auvergne between 1840 and 1853. The Castellania was then abandoned, before being briefly converted into an exhibition centre, a tenant house and a school.
  In 1895, the building was converted into the head office of the Public Health Department.
context_section_description: The building became the seat of the Chief Government Medical Officer in 1895. This took place on 10 April 1895, when Gerald Strickland transferred into the building the head office of the Public Health Department, which in 1937 combined them as the Medical and Health Department.
  Between 1904 and 1906, the Malta Fever Commission (MFC) worked in the Castallania, and on 14 June 1905 the physician Sir Themistocles Zammit discovered the cause behind the Mediterranean fever (known also by various names) while working there. The fever was first traced in Malta among British soldiers during the French occupation of Malta.
  In June 1904, during the experiments, Zammit learned that a Maltese family of five members became simultaneously ill after consuming fresh unpasteurized milk from goats. He went on to purchase healthy goats and tested them, and at one point also kept them on the first floor of the Castellania (then known as the public health building or the variants). Zammit was successful in the discovery of the disease. David Bruce, who led the MFC, discouraged the experiments when proposed by Zammit. However, when the experiment concluded in the discovery, Bruce tried to discredit Zammit by taking the merit for himself. Information about the role of Zammit was kept low profile or ignored. The fever was renamed after Bruce, as brucellosis. The MFC managed to find cure and ways to eradicate the fever, but had a hard time since there was lack of cooperation with sellers and consumers of milk; some dismissing or ignoring the finding. It was under control by 1938, with the enforcement of standard procedures of pasteurizing milk. However, slaughtering of infected animals continued throughout the 20th century and there was another rising challenge for the department in 1994 and 1995.
  The laboratory on the Castellania's second floor, intiailly used by the Malta Fever Commission, was restored and converted into The Brucellosis Museum in 1980, and it is now open to the public by appointment.
  During WWII, the Health Department dealt with several contagious illnesses attributed to the mass sharing of buildings and war shelters. The buildings close to the Castellania were hit by air bombings. The Castellania was damaged together with the next door Casa Dorell during one of the bombardments on 4 April 1942. The Castellania suffered damage on the side of the prison up to a fraction of the front façade.
  Since the British period some of the prison cells were modified and converted into government offices, and currently still serve this purpose. Other parts of the Castellania's interior, including the chapel and one of the prison cells, were restored in the 1990s. The restored cell appears on the front cover of the book Kissing the Gallows: A Cultural History of Crime, Torture and Punishment in Malta, 1600–1798, authored by William Zammit. There were further plans to restore the façade in the late 1990s, but nothing materialized. The façade was again restored as part of a number of projects for Valletta 2018 – European Capital of Culture. A detailed study for the restoration of the façade took place, which gave the way to call for a public tender, and work began in June 2017. Works were completed in January 2018, in time for Valletta's inauguration as European Capital of Culture. Some sculpture of the façade have weathered or broke off during the years but were faithfully reconstructed during the restoration.
  The building appears in a late 19th century photo, when the section on St. John Street was used to house the gas office, as well as shops on Merchant's Street. The photo forms part of the Richard Ellis collection, a set of images named for the photographer. The building appears in an early 20th century photo, with the photograph named as Castellania (Old Court-House), and appears on a British period postcard. By the late 19th century, calesse drivers were required to register their vehicles at the Castellania and obtain number plates.
  In the early 20th century, socialist patriot Manwel Dimech was imprisoned by the British at the Castella
caption: The Brucellosis Museum within the Castellania
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