The Sanctuary of the Virgin of Mellieħa : the art historical context to a Marian Shrine

Abstract

The intention of this dissertation is to trace the art historical context of the Sanctuary of the Virgin at Mellieħa from its inception in the Late Middle Ages to the present day. Several publications are available on the subject, however, no one source has focused on the comprehensive art historical setting of the shrine. Some inconsistencies have surfaced within these sources, including erroneous dates, thus necessitating further research in this study. Even though this task may have proved more tedious than when information was readily available, the process by which the information was acquired, that is, with all the added research involved, was nonetheless more rewarding. As often happens in historical sites of some importance, hearsay sometimes mars the reality of available information, although this has not been completely avoided and has in some cases proved to be useful. Since several legends have been tied to this historic cave-church, the most noteworthy of which is related to the inception of Christianity in Malta, one of the foremost preoccupations was the differentiating between legend and truth, since sometimes the two are interrelated. Although some aspects relating to the Sanctuary may still be partial, I hope that a reasonably sound contribution towards attaining a more complete account of the shrine's history and art historical context was made. A handicap in the research process was encountered by the gap present in the available historical documents relating to Mellieħa. This may have occurred through modem-day absent-mindedness, or historically, since Mellieħa seized to operate as an independent parish, and thus documents have been

moved, and presumably lost in the process. The surviving manuscripts in the Mellieħa Parish Archives have recently been restored and decently gathered through the efforts of Mr. Jimmy Muscat; hopefully these labours will prevent the further loss of information.