Trails of Malta’s religious cultural heritage

The Jesuits church is built on a cruciform plan comprising a central nave and four inter-communicating bays accommodating seven side-chapels. On the side of Archbishop Street, the middle bay was allocated for the side entrance, instead of an eightth side-chapel. At the side entrance are the two oratories, one dedicated to the Immaculate Conception and the other dedicated to St Honoria, thus earning the better known name of the Confraternity of the Onorati.

The Parish church of Kirkop was first built in 1706 on the site of an older seventeenth-century church dedicated to St Leonard and St Mary. The Baroque church continued to be enlarged until 1862, when the belltowers were built to the design of the architect Giuseppe Cristoforo. The church is built on raised ground and is surrounded by a parvis with balustrades all around.

The Parish church of Paola is dedicated to Christ the King and was built between 1924 and 1959. At first it was planned over the location of an old church, however this idea was abandoned in order to have a new Parish church in a more prominent site at the centre of the town. The new church was designed in a blend of Baroque and Neo-classical architecture, by Guzè D’Amato, although works on site were undertaken by the Maltese architect Filippo Tortell. Its dimensions are impressive, being 250 feet long and 100 feet wide, and includes ten altars in all.

The Parish church of Qrendi was built between 1620 and 1655 to a design attributed to the Maltese architect Vittorio Cassar (c.1550-c.1609). It was built on the site of two smaller churches dedicated to the Assumption and to St Anthony. The church was extensively remodelled and enlarged between 1668 and 1679 by the Maltese architect Lorenzo Gafa’. The design of the façade was influenced by the style of the French architect Mederico Blondel in his church of St Francis in Valletta as well as the Carmelite Church in Mdina.

The Parish church of Senglea was rebuilt between 1946 and 1956, as it was almost destroyed during WWII. Its architecture was planned by the Maltese designer Victor Anastasi (1913-1992). The church is over the site of the original church built in 1580 as a monument to the victory of the Great Siege of 1565.

The Parish church of the Annunciation in Tarxien is a fine example of early Baroque architecture in Malta, built between 1610 and 1627. Its design was attributed to the Maltese architect Gerolamo Cassar (c.1520-1592), with the later involvement of his son Vittorio (1550-1607). Its plan was influenced by the design of the Jesuits Church in Valletta.