Malta’s rich natural history thrilled the hundreds of people who on Sunday turned up for an open day at the National Museum of Natural History in Mdina.

Housed in an 18th-century palace, restructured by Grand Master Antonio Manoel de Vilhena with plans by Charles Francois de Mondion in 1726, the museum has collections of animals, fauna and species found on the islands.

The display areas in the museum cover various topics, such as Maltese geology and paleontology, exotic mammals, marine fauna, insects, shells and birds, and other subjects, including human evolution.

One hall is dedicated to the skeletal anatomy of vertebrates and dioramas displaying Maltese habitats – including one dedicated to Maltese cliff birds, one depicting the importance of rubble walls and one showing the diversity of the animals living in the valleys.

Another interesting display highlights the ecological importance of the small islands of Filfla, Fungus Rock, St Paul’s and Comino.

The display areas at the National Museum of Natural History in Mdina cover various topics.

The Lewis Mizzi Hall is dedicated to minerals. It shows just a small part of Mr Mizzi’s vast collection. The hall includes at least 850 pieces of rock and minerals, both raw materials and worked pieces of art and jewellery.

The Vilhena Palace, which houses the museum, served as a temporary hospital during the 1837 cholera outbreak, a sanatorium for British troops in 1860 and also a hospital for tuberculosis patients in the early 20th century. In 1973, it was officially inaugurated as the National Museum of Natural History.

Its main responsibility is the acquisition, collection and conservation of natural history materials, with special importance given to local biota.