Timeline
2010
Opening the other silver rooms (formerly used to conserve the archives) were used to accommodate Antonio Arrighi’s famous Apsotolato, treasures of the Cathedral Church and treasures coming for the Church of the Holy Souls in Valletta
2008
Nov 18, 2008 an extensive collection of antique silverware, amassed by former Speaker Jimmy Farrugia, was donated to the Cathedral Museum, Mdina
1992
Opening of Dr John A. Cauchi hall displaying his collection of paintings
1969
Various activities held in the former seminary building were brought to an end on the 4th of January 1969 with a very remarkable opening of the first official Cathedral Museum which was inaugurated by the Governor of Malta Sir Maurice Dorman and Mgr Archbishop Sir Michael Gonzi
1949
During the difficult years of the World War II the issue of the Museum was shelved on the Chapter’s agenda. Finally a decisive moment came after a successful exhibition with Marian exhibition of 1949 started paving the way for the making of the first professional museum
1940-1950
During the years 1940’s- early 1950’s the former seminary was also used as a house of retreat
1940
In the late 1940’s the building served to accommodate the nuns of the Good Shepherd while certain areas were reserved for the classes of a small private school administered by the Chapter. (Scuola della Cattedrale.)
1939-1942
In the years between 1939-1942, the edifice saw another change when the political vicissitudes of Malta at the time of World War II brought to Mdina seminary the St. Edward’s College students from an unsafe Cottonera area
1926
The idea to use the former seminary building as a place for permanent exhibitions was discussed in Chapters Meetings of May 1926 and continued on the advent of the World War II, exactly in August of 1938
1920 s
By the early 1920s, the training for aspiring priests returned back to Manresa House in Floriana
1919
Circa 1919 the building was reused as a seminary. National poet Dun Karm Psaila lectured at Mdina
1914
Circa 1914 an additional upper storey was built upon the actual Pinacoteca by the British Admiralty
1913
Circa 1913 British Royal Admiralty occupied the building for urgent use during the World War I
1912
In the year 1912, the building served as unorganized storage. An issue had been raised by the Cathedral Chapter to restore le due quadri del Preti de pertininza di quest S. Chiesa che si trovano trascurati in una delle stanze del seminario
1858
In the 1858 Mdina seminary was closed and the students were transferred to Manresa House in Floriana presently the Archdiocese’s Curia
1749
Year 1749 artist Antoine Favrè was paid the sum of 250 Scudi for his set of paintings installed within the octagonal seminary chapel dedicated to the Annunciation
1742
In the year 1742 the new seminary was officially opened
1733
In the year 1733 an extensive building quarter with old medieval houses were bought to build a new bigger seminary presently the premises of the Cathedral Museum.
On 6th December 1733 Bishop Alpheran De Bussan accompanied by many civil and ecclesiastical dignitaries laid the first stone of the new seminary building
1703
On the 25th March of 1703, Mgr Cocco Pamlieri in his palace at Valletta stipulated the foundation-act and the decree for the erection of a seminary in Mdina
17th Century
By the end of the 17th Century the Mdina seminary was not functioning anymore
1681
On the 24th May 1681, a letter from the Prefect of the Congregation of the Council ordered Bishop Mgr Girolamo Molina to re-establish the seminary in Mdina
1616
8th August 1616 Bishop Balthassar Cagliares opened a seminary in Mdina in which he admitted 12 pupils. They were to study, philosophy, theology, grammar and logic at the expense of the Bishop himself
1592
28th March of 1592, the Grand Master Cardinal Hugh De Verdalle and Bishop Mgr Tomaso Gargallo received an Apostolic Brief that a Jesuit Seminary was to be erected in Malta