Rome. Magistral Palace. Common Treasure. The voluminous photographic documentation, computerised for the general inventory of the Order's assets, carried out for the first time since the loss of Malta by the Receiver of the Common Treasure, Count Carlo Marullo di Condojanni.

This tradition encountered many difficulties after the loss of the island of Malta and inevitable lacunae occurred. This gradually led to confusion about the resources owned and the guidelines for managing and preserving the Order's assets of particular cultural interest.

With the passage of time and the Order's evolution in this century, much of its movable property has been transformed and employed for practical purposes, often without taking into account the real value at stake and the fact that this cultural heritage often represents a great privilege granted to the institutions.

Rome. Magistral Palace. The 26 volumes of the first, systematic inventory of the Order's assets, covering both its buildings and works of art, constituting a "unicum" in the sphere of European cultural heritages.

Because of this, and in view of the Order's current reform, the Receiver of the Common Treasure's office has decided to devote part of its activities to drawing up a general inventory of the assets of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.
This inventory drawn up by means of modern «general visits», has been divided into five sections, covering urban real estate; farm properties; movables, furniture and furnishings (distinguishing those of cultural interest); treasure; and fifth, books. The need was also felt of a sixth section, devoted to the archives.

This inventory has assumed an institutional aspect, becoming a working instrument for the Order's public structure. It is able to give the Order's heritage a purpose coherent and compatible with the assets it possesses, which have served and still serve its social and public sphere, reinforcing its image.

Hence the acknowledgement of the need for a careful preservation - planned and managed using modern information technology - of the possessions which the Order has over the centuries used for residential or office purposes, and which often involve complex urban and ecological problems.

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