A metal-grille door flanking the stairs and portal of the austere façade of St John's Co-Cathedral in Valletta belongs to the quaint museum that spans over 200 years of banking history.
This small Bank of Valletta museum is one of the city's many secret spots featuring yet another dimension to Malta's multi-layered history. With just a tiny plaque on the outside, and so many distractions calling out for attention in the vicinity, it's no wonder that many pass it by without a second glance.
Museum curator David Brink-worth explained how most of the visitors are in fact foreigners. "We've had people visiting our museum from all the corners of the world", yet, the Maltese seem to shy away from the museum.
Having said that, those who venture inside can easily see that the small space holds a wealth of items, documentation and images directly linked to this segment in history.
Two of the most impressive and prominent exhibits are antique safes, one of which acts as shelving to many of the intricate and delicate items on show.
Also impressive are the plates used to print old currency notes, together with the original hand-written ledger books pre-dating the advent of the computer age, different examples of weighing scales, a huge calculator that actually resembles a typewriter, old cheque-books, every credit card edition since the onset of plastic-money on the island and a coin-counting machine, to mention but a few of the more eye-catching items.
For those interested in visual representation, there are a number of immaculately-painted portraits, representing those who were truly instrumental in Malta's banking history, such as Antonio Cassar Torreggiani, president of the Anglo Maltese Bank between 1927 and 1945 and president of the National Bank of Malta between 1946 and 1959.
On the walls, black and white photos give viewers a glimpse of what the old offices and surroundings of the Anglo Maltese Bank looked like.
Previously situated in the bank's head office in High Street, Sliema, the museum was founded in 1997. The visitor's book in the new Valletta premises, however, betrays the opening date of the new seat as October 20, 2006.
Although the BOV museum website has not been updated in a while, it gives a good indication and a mini virtual tour of some of the more prominent aspects directly related to Malta's banking history and which can be readily viewed when visiting the museum.
The museum is open to the public Monday to Friday between 8.30 a.m. and 12.30 p.m. and on every last Saturday of the month.
www.bov.com/filebank/otherfiles/museum.swf