Floriana does not hand out its second-tier buildings to tourists, and Robert Samut Hall is a good example. It sits on Triq Sarria, close to the Sarria Church and the Argotti Botanic Gardens, and it looks like a church that has found a new job. That is exactly what it is.
A Methodist church in a Catholic town
The building was put up between 1881 and 1883 for a Methodist congregation, to a design by the architect Thomas Mullet Ellis. It opened for worship on 18 March 1883. The date is worth a thought: Malta was then a British colony, and the Protestant churches that appeared in Floriana and Valletta in this period served garrison families, naval staff and other British residents, besides some Maltese converts.
The church stayed in use for most of the twentieth century. In the early 1970s it was given to the government, and on 4 April 1975 it was inaugurated as a centre for cultural activities. At that point it was renamed Robert Samut Hall.
The name on the door
Robert Samut was a Maltese composer and a physician, and he wrote the music of the Maltese national anthem. Naming a cultural venue after him makes sense: the building became a place for music, performance and other events, and the name signals what it is for. It is an unusual choice for a converted church, since it replaces a religious dedication with one honouring a living tradition of secular music.
The hall’s story is a small piece of the island’s twentieth-century history, one in which the departure of British institutions turned their buildings into public venues. Floriana has several such conversions, and this is one of the more modest.
What you see from outside
Stand across the street and look at the proportions: a compact nineteenth-century hall rather than a grand Baroque church. Compare it with the Catholic churches of Floriana, which are bigger and far more decorated. The restraint is typical of Methodist architecture of the period, and the contrast with the stone of the older fortifications nearby is part of the interest.
Inside access depends on events. Because the hall is used for cultural activities, it is not a place you can count on entering at a given hour. Check the current programme before you go, and if you find the doors closed, treat the exterior as the visit and move on to the gardens.
A walk around the hall
The real value of the hall for a visitor is its position. It lies in a quiet corner of Floriana that most tour groups skip, and a short walk covers several things in a row. The Argotti Botanic Gardens are nearby, with their terraces and plant collections. The Sa Maison Garden is also in the area and tends to be calm. Close to the Sarria Church stands the Wignacourt water tower, one of the inspection towers of the seventeenth-century aqueduct, with a horse trough and a fountain attached.
Floriana as a whole is a good place for a slow stroll. The streets are wide and the bastions give long views over the harbour. If you want a shorter loop, walk from the hall to the gardens, along the bastion wall, and then back to the main road for a bus.
Practical points
Wear comfortable shoes and go in the morning or late afternoon in summer, because the stone and the pavements hold heat. There is little shade in the streets around the hall, and the nearest gardens are the best place to sit down.
If you want to see inside, the most reliable approach is to look for a concert, exhibition or other event and book it. A performance gives you the chance to see the interior, and it also shows what the building has become. Otherwise, the hall makes a good ten-minute stop within a longer circuit of Floriana and the Valletta approaches.
Pair it with a late-afternoon visit to the gardens, and finish with a walk towards Valletta City Gate as the light drops. The main road is a short distance away, and buses back to most parts of the island start from the terminus just beyond the gate.
