The Xagħra parish church : art and architecture

Abstract

A proper study on the art and architecture of the Xagħra parish church has been long overdue. The dissertation is attempting an unbiased, critical and art historical analysis on the vast collection of art works which presently adorn the parish church but also, those which have been replaced and others that belonged to the first parish church. The discussion also tries to place the works within a historical context of the church itself and also within that of the Maltese islands, with a particular emphasis on Gozo. Therefore in Chapter 1, I have discussed and recounted the events of the end of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries which saw the establishment of the parish and subsequently the erection of the first parish church of Xagħra . The study progresses with a discussion on the turbulent history of the construction of the present church and a critical analysis of its architecture. The following chapters finally discuss the vast collection of works of art which embellish the church. Rather than taking a chronological approach, I divided the study into sections which discuss the different types of works of art ranging from painting, statuary, church furniture, objets d'art etc. Past research on the subject has been very limited; the works in the church have been extremely little discussed and published and certainly never from an art historical point of view. The only publication devoted entirely to the Xagħra parish church is Julian Refalo Rapa's The Xagħra Monumental Church.