Churches in Malta: cathedrals, domes and wayside chapels

What churches in Malta offer

Count the domes from any high point and the number is startling. Churches in Malta are not an add-on to the sightseeing, they are the architecture. Villages competed for the grandest parish church for centuries, and the outcome is a landscape of domes, bell towers and carved stone facades, often out of proportion to the streets around them. Inside, there are altar pieces, painted ceilings and silver, and several of the largest hold art of European importance.

Seventeen are covered here. They range from a Baroque cathedral in a walled citadel to a small chapel by the Dingli Cliffs, and from a church of the Knights to an Anglican one.

Valletta: the Knights’ church and its neighbours

Start with St. John’s Co-Cathedral, the Knights’ conventual church. The outside is plain, almost severe, and the interior is gilded, with a marble floor of tombs and two Caravaggio paintings in the oratory. It draws large visitor numbers, so go early or late in the day.

Valletta has others within a few streets. The Church of Saint Paul’s Shipwreck was designed by Girolamo Cassar, rebuilt by the Jesuits and holds relics of St Paul. St. Catherine of Italy Church is a small church on Merchants Street first built in 1576, and St. Paul’s Anglican Cathedral, funded by Queen Adelaide and finished in 1844, shows a neoclassical side of the city.

Floriana, the Three Cities and central Malta

Just outside Valletta, St. Publius Church in Floriana has a colonnade, twin bell towers and an interior in purple, cream, gold and turquoise. Sarria Church is round, rebuilt in 1676 after the plague, and lined with large canvases by Mattia Preti.

On the other side of the Grand Harbour, St. Lawrence’s Church in Birgu was designed by Lorenzo Gafa and finished in 1696, and the Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception in Cospicua is a large collegiate church with twin bell towers.

Near the middle of the island, the Mosta Dome is the one that most visitors know by its silhouette. A German bomb pierced the roof in 1942 and failed to explode, and the church has been a standard stop ever since.

Mdina, Rabat and the west

The old capital has its own cathedral. St. Paul’s Cathedral was rebuilt by Lorenzo Gafa after the earthquake of 1693 and consecrated in 1702, with an inlaid floor and a two-dial clock. In nearby Rabat, the Parish Church of St Paul stands over the grotto traditionally linked to the saint, and St. Dominic’s Convent is a fortified priory begun in 1457. The catacombs are a short walk away.

At Dingli, the St. Mary Magdalene Chapel is the opposite end of the scale: a small wayside chapel first recorded in 1446 and rebuilt in 1646, standing at the edge of the cliffs. It rewards a visit at sunset.

Gozo

The Cathedral of the Assumption is inside the walled Cittadella of Victoria, with a Baroque interior and a position that looks across the island. In the west near Għarb, the Ta Pinu Basilica is Gozo’s national shrine, built between 1920 and 1931 around an older chapel, with a 61-metre bell tower and a museum of ex-voto offerings.

Town churches along the coast

Not every church is a landmark, and some of the best stops are the ordinary ones. The Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is a neo-Gothic parish church at Balluta Bay, on the border of Sliema and St Julian’s, so it fits neatly into an evening walk along the promenade. The Msida Parish Church, dedicated to St Joseph and built in 1889 to replace the old church of the Immaculate Conception, stands in a busy town near Valletta and is easy to reach by bus.

These smaller churches are usually open at set times of day and often shut in the middle of the afternoon, so a morning call is the safer plan. Inside, expect a cool, quiet floor, which is a welcome rest on a hot day.

Visiting well

Dress with shoulders and knees covered, carry a light scarf, and keep voices low. Services have priority, so check the current visiting hours and expect restricted access on Sundays and feast days. February, for example, holds the Feast of St. Paul’s Shipwreck on 10 February, a public holiday, and parish feasts fill the summer calendar in villages.

Match the churches to the day. Valletta suits a morning on foot, central Malta a short stop on a drive, and Gozo’s two main churches a day of their own. Photography rules differ from church to church, so look for signs before raising a camera.