Heritage Malta will open the doors of the Malta Maritime Museum free of charge on Sunday during the annual “Life at Sea” event as part of the European Maritime Day 2013 celebrations.

Visitors will have the opportunity to walk through part of the Traditional Maltese Boats collection which is currently in storage. The collection features 60 full size traditional boats. Many of these vessels will be on display for the first time.

Some of the boats on display date back to 1870.

Visitors can also visit the ovens which used to bake 6000 loaves of bread a day for the Royal Navy in its heyday.

Museum exhibits on display will be brought to life with the help of re-enactors, historians and curators who will be at hand to provide fresh insight into Malta’s unique maritime past and introduce the visitors to various 16th and 18th century characters. This will be an opportunity for visitors to engage in personal discussion with curators, archaeologists and historians.

The re-enactors who will portray the Order of St. John’s 18th century navy will demonstrate hand to hand fighting tactics, artillery manoeuvres as well as explaining the nasty side of seafaring life.

For the first time at the museum, 35 armour clad knights will clash against each other demonstrating the rough life at the quay side in Vittoriosa in the 16th century.