St. Paul's Cathedral

Mdina, Malta

St. Paul's Cathedral in Mdina was built on the site where governor Publius was reported to have met Saint Paul following his shipwreck off the Maltese coast. According to tradition, the first Cathedral of Malta was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, Mother of God but, having fallen into ruin during the Muslim period, it was rebuilt following the Norman conquest and re-dedicated to St Paul. The old church was modified and enlarged several times.

The building we can see today was designed by the architect Lorenzo Gafa, it was built between 1697 and 1702 to replace a ruined Norman cathedral destroyed by the 1693 earthquake on Malta. Despite this, several artifacts and edifices survived including the painting by the Calabrian artist Mattia Preti depicting the conversion of Saint Paul, a 15th-century Tuscan painting of the Madonna and Child, and frescoes in the apse which illustrate Paul's shipwreck.

The architect Lorenzo Gafa designed the Cathedral in Baroque style. It sits at the end of a rectangular square. The near-square facade is cleanly divided in three bays by the Corinthian order of pilasters. There are two bell towers at the both corners. The plan is a Latin cross with a vaulted nave, two aisles and two small side chapels. The Cathedral has a light octagonal dome, with eight stone scrolls above a high drum leading up to a neat lantern.

One of the main features of the interior is the rich colorful tessellated floor. Many of the furnishings of the cathedral, including the baptismal font and the portal, are carved out of Irish wood.

The cathedral also has a substantial collection of silver plates and coins, and some carvings by the German artist Albrecht Dürer.

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Address

Triq Mesquita, Mdina, Malta
See all sites in Mdina

Details

Founded: 1697-1702
Category: Religious sites in Malta

Rating

4.6/5 (based on Google user reviews)

User Reviews

Shivesh Karan (3 months ago)
Place of worship with a lost of history, main attraction in Mdina, a must visit when in Malta. Ticket costs 10 Euros and includes visit to the museum and the Cathedral.
Antony Kalampogias (3 months ago)
A beautiful and breathtaking church a must visit if you are in malta, however I completely disagree with the fact that you have to pay in order to get inside the church. I would totally pay the same price to just enter the museum next to it.
zdenka stevanovic (3 months ago)
Wandering the sleepy, narrow passages of the cloistered, fortified city of Mdina inspires feelings of awe and eeriness in equal measure. Its beautiful, delicately preserved, medieval-like setting is sublimely atmospheric and a visual storyteller’s dream, so it is no accident that many Hollywood blockbusters have been shot here. Until 500 years ago, Mdina was the capital of Malta, then a shift in power left it a ghost town, a so-called ‘Silent City’. But the nobility remained, and to this day unlocking the bolted doors of their magnificent palazzos here is no mean feat. Unless you’re in the know. Mdina is like the proverbial onion, with layer upon layer of life, lore and legend waiting to be peeled back and discovered.
Greg Alford (3 months ago)
Wow, wow, wow. Huge gorgeous church. Make sure you notice the tombs you're walking over there's hundreds of them and they are like pieces of art themselves. You have to buy your tickets at the museum across the street which is very interesting and worth seeing.
Helena Kliwison (4 months ago)
Cathedra is beautifully with massive amount of frescoes and beautifully paintings inside the dome. It is worthy to see. And I haven't see nowhere so many tombs on the floor. I don't give 5 stars due to the fact the the only available ticket is with the cathedral's museum for 10€. I know that when the ticket for cathedra would be available then not too many people would go to the museum, but with small child it doesn't make much sense to go to such places... And the ticket is too expensive and skip the museum... The bathroom with diapers changer is nice in the museum though.
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