Pocket Rough Guide Malta and Gozo by Rough Guides

Author:Rough Guides
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Travel, Malta
Publisher: Apa Publications
Published: 2018-09-20T13:33:41+00:00

Mellieħa Church Complex

MAP

Parish Square, Mellieħa. Buses #41 and #42 from Valletta, #222 from Sliema and #221 from Buġibba.

Mellieħa’s two churches sit atop each other at the edge of the Mellieħa Ridge, overlooking Mellieħa Bay. The older of the two is set in the Sanctuary, a lovely courtyard that’s accessible from the square (Misraħ Iż-Żjara Tal-Papa) via the Monumental Arch, a Baroque stone archway built in 1716. The courtyard is flanked on the right by simple rooms built in the eighteenth century to house pilgrims, and on the left by the Church of Our Lady of Mellieħa (daily: June–Sept 8am–noon & 5–7pm; Oct–May 8am–noon & 4–6pm; free). A squat structure embedded into the rockface, the church began as a crypt and has been expanded twice since the sixteenth century to accommodate the increasing number of pilgrims drawn to the fresco atop the altar, depicting the Madonna cradling Jesus in her arms and said to have been painted by St Luke in 60 AD. The clutter of votive offerings lining the tunnel into the church illustrate the continued belief in the fresco’s healing powers, though recent studies have indicated that the saint may not have painted it.

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