Location Siġġiewi Denomination Roman Catholic Founded 1675 Parish Siġġiewi Archbishop Charles Scicluna Architect Lorenzo Gafà | Country Malta Website Website of the Church Dedication Saint Nicholas Architectural style Baroque architecture Architectural type Church | |
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Archdiocese Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Malta Similar Church of St Nicholas, Manoel Theatre, Fort Rinella, Megalithic Temples of Malta, National Museum of Archaeol | ||
The Church of St Nicholas is a parish church serving the village of Siġġiewi in Malta.
Contents
Original church
The original parish church of Siġġiewi was built around the 15th century but hardly anything has survived of this church. In 1436 the parish of Siġġiewi was listed as one of the 12 functional parishes in an inventory by Bishop Senatore de Mello. The church is in ruins till this very day. In 1998 these ruins were classified as a Heritage site and in 2007 the area started to be rehabilitated as an archaeological site.
Present church
The present church of St Nicholas was built between 1675 and 1693. The church was consecrated on May 10, 1729. In 1862 the church was enlarged on the plans of Nikol Zammit. The side aisles, dome and portico were added. Every June the annual feast of Saint Nicholas is celebrated with great solemnity while on December 6 the liturgical feast of the saint is celebrated.
The titular painting in the church is by the artist Mattia Preti, 'Il calabrese', who was also responsible for the painting on the vault of St John's Co-Cathedral in Valletta. The wooden statue which is carried in procession in the city feast day (the last Sunday of June) was sculptured by Pietro Felici in 1736. Fours years earlier, in 1732, the same sculptor had produced the stone statue which still stands in the centre of the square. On its pedestal there is a prayer in Latin which implores the saint to bless the fields which the faithful laboriously till.
The church is listed on the National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands.