<the parish churches>
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dome of the old parish church of zejtun
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The old Parish Church of Zejtun, dedicated to St. Catherine and also the church of St. Gregory, is another example for a medieval church. The church was rebuilt in 1492, and it replaces an earlier church that might originate from the fourteenth century, but its original structure is not known. The remodeling of the church introduced a new and more sophisticated construction of the roof; the roofing slabs were laid in a curve directly on the backs of the transverse arches. The upper part of the cross wall is hidden inside the vault, which therefore appears like a barrel vault. In the following centuries north and south transepts, a dome and decorations were added. |
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found between the walls of the dome at zejtun: skeletons of imprisoned turks from the great siege of 1565 |
In Siggiewi a few remains of the old Parish Church of St. Nicholas can be found, which indicate some assumptions concerning its original state. The remains include a wall of the earlier part of the church and some surviving parts of the newer church. The original church used to be square in shape and had five bays. Stones that were nearly square were used for the construction of interior and exterior walls. The building was later enlarged in the east direction, which led to its rectangular shape. There is no bonding between the old and the new part of the church; they only touch each other. An uncommon variation are the timber beams that carried the stone roofing slabs, which is still partly visible on the surviving wall. As there are remains of an upper and lower row of timber beams on the wall, it seems that the enlarged church used to have two roof levels. The timber beams were later replaced by stone arches, which were not bonded into the masonry. The walls inside the church were plastered and painted with cult images. |
The ordinary and plain building style of the Maltese churches has only a few features with Sicilian churches in common. Exact parallels cannot be found. Similarities to other churches appear in Syria, where due to the lack of timber stone had also to be used for the construction of the early Christian churches. Due to the fact that the Syrian churches originate from between the fourth and the sixth century, it is possible that monks exported the style to Sicily and South Italy when they fled there in the wake of the Muslim invasions. From Sicily the style reached Malta with the revival of Christianity in the thirteenth century.
