St. Dominic Basilica, Valletta, Malta

The Basilica of St. Dominic is one of the three parish churches of Valletta. It is administered by the Dominican Order whose convent is located behind the church.

The land upon which the church and convent are built were given to the order by Grand Master Pierre de Monte. Girolamo Cassar was commissioned to draw up the plans. The first stone was laid on 19 April 1571. The parish was established on 2 July 1571 by a decree given by Pope Pius V, considered as the benefactor of the construction of Valletta. It was dedicated to Our Lady of Fair Havens which means 'Good Harbour' because of the great number of sailors that used to attend services at the small chapel that the Dominicans had built prior to the construction of the large church. It was also declared that the parish of St Dominic would be the principle parish church of the city.

The church was closed and declared unsafe on July 24, 1780 as a consequence of earthquakes and severe storms. A new church was built on the same site of the original church some 25 years after it was closed. The church was opened and blessed on May 15, . The church was elevated to the dignity of a Minor basilica on March 25, 1816. The church was finally consecrated on October 15, 1889 by Archbishop Pietro Pace.

References:

Wikipedia

Religious sites in Malta

User Reviews

Steve Ryan (4 months ago)
Incredibly ornate basilica, with plenty of interesting history of the local Dominican order.

raymond tabone (7 months ago)
Beautiful Magnificent Basilica! Free to enter.

Ivan Dabić (8 months ago)
The church was built on the land of one of the grand masters of the order of the st John in 16 century. The details in the church are out of this world! We were lucky to be there in August in the week of the Carnival originating to the early days of the knights of st John. Some videos are attached within this thread as the Carnival was moving through the streets of Valletta.

Boštjan Štolfa (2 years ago)
Great Basilica of St. Dominic, completely renovated. Peacefull place in Valletta.

Marin “SayanMk” Kolev (2 years ago)
Beautiful and giant basilica, used as starting point for all the St. Domenic events while celebrating him. Definitely pay attention to such events in Malta, really cultural and rich shows.

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