The filial Churches of Qrendi : history, architecture and works of art

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to analyse the filial churches of Qrendi from an artistic and historical point of view. The broad nature of the subject, while challenging at times, has allowed me to view a cross-section of small church art and architecture in Malta using Qrendi as a case study. Information about the churches is often limited in secondary sources, sometimes only being mentioned in a single sentence and very often the same information is repeated. The recent publication by Frans Ciappara Religion, Kinship and Godparenthood as Elements of Social Cohesion in Qrendi: a late eighteenth century Maltese has proved very useful in putting the churches in their context even though his study is limited to the eighteenth century. The Church of Tal-Ħniena, one of the filial churches in Qrendi, on the other hand, has been the subject of two theses presented to the University of Malta. These are that, Alexandra Scicluna submitted in 2002 in the Department of History of Art, and that by Joseph Magro submitted in 2004 in the International Institute of Baroque Studies. In addition, a Masters thesis by Isabelle Borg on the ex-voto tabellas was submitted in the History of Art Department in 1994 in which she went into substantial detail about the ex-voto collection of the church. In Scicluna’s thesis all the works of art related to Tal-Ħniena are catalogued and detailed plans and elevations of the church are included, which is why they have been omitted from this study. Instead, the present thesis includes, catalogue entries for works that have been restored since 2002. Also included are old photographs taken by Prof. Mario Buhagiar when the church still had works of art displayed on its wall; which were not included in previous studies but shed light on what the church looked like. My research was not limited to secondary sources, I also consulted a number of pastoral visitation reports which helped me form an idea of how the churches changed and evolved throughout the years. The local Parish Archives were not very useful, since they were not properly taken care of and a lot of the material has been lost. A recent reorganisation exercise has begun which will help better understand its contents. My introduction intends to set the context for the churches, both within Qrendi and within the whole of Malta. There is a brief history of Qrendi as well as the Parish Church. I then attempt to analyse the development of small church architecture in Malta. In following chapters, I analyse the small churches individually, discussing their history, architecture and works of art. I also have a number of appendices. The first Appendix is a collection of old photographs of the churches. The second Appendix is a catalogue of the restored ex-votos associated with the church of Tal-Ħniena. The third Appendix contains catalogue entries of all the works of art associated with the churches. The final Appendix includes plans for the churches, for which I would like to thank Joseph Magro.