page_title: San Anton Palace
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: San Anton Palace / History
caption_attribution_description: English: San Antonio Palace and Gardens This media is about Maltese cultural property with inventory number 01152.
context_page_description: San Anton Palace is a palace in Attard, Malta that currently serves as the official residence of the President of Malta. It was originally built in the early 17th century as a country villa for Antoine de Paule, a knight of the Order of St. John. It was expanded into a palace following de Paule's election as Grand Master in 1623.
  The palace was used as a residence by subsequent Grand Masters, being enlarged a number of times in the process. It was the headquarters of the rebel National Assembly during the uprising of 1798–1800, and it later became a residence for the Civil Commissioners, Governors and Governors-General of Malta. It has been the official residence of the President since the office was created in December 1974.
  The palace is surrounded by the extensive San Anton Gardens, parts of which have been open to the public since 1882.
context_section_description: In around 1600, Antoine de Paule, a knight of the Order of St. John from the Langue of Provence, acquired a piece of land in Attard and built a country villa. De Paule was elected Grand Master in 1623, and the villa was subsequently enlarged into a palace in around 1625. The palace was named San Anton after the Grand Master's patron saint, Anthony of Padua.
  De Paule planned the villa on generous proportions so as to provide accommodation for his guests and for his large domestic staff which included cooks, food tasters, torch bearers, pantry boys, wig makers, a winder of the clocks, physicians, as well as a baker to make black bread for feeding his hunting dogs.
  Following de Paule's death in 1636, the palace remained in use as a residence by subsequent Grand Masters of the Order, since it was closer to the capital city Valletta than the Verdala Palace. Over the years, the building was expanded from having a T-shape into a Latin cross.
  During the French occupation of Malta and the subsequent Maltese uprising, the palace was the meeting place of the rebel National Assembly, which first met on 11 February 1799. In 1800, the palace became the residence of the first British Civil Commissioner, Admiral Sir Alexander Ball, who died at the palace in October 1809.
  The palace subsequently became the official residence of the Governor and, later, Governor-General of Malta. Some structural changes were made during British rule, including a reduction of the height of the tower after it was hit by lightning in 1819, and the addition of a balustraded walk around the main courtyard. Parts of the palace's gardens were opened to the public in 1882. San Anton has been the official residence of the President of Malta since the island became a republic in December 1974.
  Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was born at the palace on 25 November 1876, when her father Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, was stationed in Malta as a Royal Navy officer.
  Queen Elizabeth II stayed at the palace during her royal visits to Malta in 1954, 1967 and 2005.
  The palace and its gardens were included on the Antiquities List of 1925. It is now a Grade 1 national monument, and it is also listed on the National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands.
  A 50-metre-long (160 ft) stretch of a historic wall forming part of the palace collapsed on 17 October 2018. The wall, which had been restored a few months before, collapsed into a parking area and it damaged some parked vehicles although there were no injuries. The gardens were subsequently closed to the public, and emergency works to conserve the remaining part of the wall have been undertaken. The Restoration Directorate is looking into the collapse.
caption: Car park at San Anton Palace, with the wall that collapsed in October 2018 on the right
exif: {"Image Make": "Apple", "Image Model": "iPad Air", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "9.3.2", "Image DateTime": "2016:06:20 18:33:12", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "204", "GPS GPSLatitudeRef": "N", "GPS GPSLatitude": "[35, 53, 2309/50]", "GPS GPSLongitudeRef": "E", "GPS GPSLongitude": "[14, 26, 2289/50]", "GPS GPSAltitudeRef": "0", "GPS GPSAltitude": "95", "GPS GPSTimeStamp": "[16, 33, 901/100]", "GPS GPSSpeedRef": "K", "GPS GPSSpeed": "0", "GPS GPSImgDirectionRef": "T", "GPS GPSImgDirection": "15157/2048", "GPS GPSDestBearingRef": "T", "GPS GPSDestBearing": "15157/2048", "GPS GPSDate": "2016:06:20", "GPS Tag 0x001F": "65", "Image GPSInfo": "1026", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1430", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "9429", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/784", "EXIF FNumber": "12/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "32", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2016:06:20 18:33:12", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2016:06:20 18:33:12", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "4211/438", "EXIF ApertureValue": "4845/1918", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "18095/2102", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "No flash function", "EXIF FocalLength": "33/10", "EXIF SubjectArea": "[1295, 967, 1425, 851]", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "527", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "527", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2592", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1936", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "32", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[33/10, 33/10, 12/5, 12/5]", "EXIF LensMake": "Apple", "EXIF LensModel": "iPad Air back camera 3.3mm f/2.4"}