St Paul's Pro-Cathedral | |
---|---|
The Pro-Cathedral and Collegiate Parish church of Saint Paul | |
Il-Pro-Katidral ta' San Pawl | |
35°54′1.2″N14°30′41.5″E / 35.900333°N 14.511528°E | |
Location | Valletta |
Country | Malta |
Denomination | Church of England |
Churchmanship | High church |
Website | Cathedral Website |
History | |
Status | Pro-cathedral |
Founded | 20 March 1839 |
Founder(s) | Queen Adelaide |
Dedication | St Paul |
Dedicated | 1 November 1844 |
Architecture | |
Functional status | Active |
Architect(s) | Richard Lankesheer (later adjustments by William Scamp) [1] |
Style | Neo-classical |
Groundbreaking | 1839 |
Completed | 1844 |
Specifications | |
Spire height | 200 ft (61 m) [1] |
Administration | |
Province | Canterbury |
Diocese | Diocese in Europe |
Archdeaconry | Italy and Malta |
Clergy | |
Bishop(s) | Robert Innes |
Chancellor | David Wright |
Laity | |
Organist(s) | Hugo Agius Muscat Philip Galea |
Churchwarden(s) | Neil Hodgson Bernice Caruana |
St Paul's Pro-Cathedral (Malti: Il-Pro-Katridral ta' San Pawl), officially The Pro-Cathedral and Collegiate Church of Saint Paul, is an Anglican pro-cathedral of the Diocese in Europe situated in Independence Square, Valletta, Malta. A "pro-cathedral" is a church with cathedral status though not being the main cathedral. It is one of three cathedrals of the Anglican Diocese of Gibraltar in Europe.
The cathedral was commissioned by the Dowager Queen Adelaide during a visit to Malta in the 19th century when she found out that there was no place of Anglican worship on the island. Prior to this Anglican services were held in a room in the Grand Master's Palace. [2] Built on the site of the Auberge d'Allemagne (the conventual home of the German Knights Hospitaller), the cathedral was designed by William Scamp and was built between 1839 and 1844. Queen Adelaide laid the foundation stone on 20 March 1839 and her banner hangs above the choir stalls. The original plans were designed by Richard Lankasheer; however, the building proved unstable, thus work had to resume on plans by Scamp in 1841. Scamp's designs located the altar on the west side of the church, but the Bishop of Gibraltar had a more conservative view, thus the designs were altered and Scamp designed an apse inside the great doors to hold the sanctuary on the east side. [3]
During World War II the cathedral received minor damage and the roof collapsed, but most of the structure remained intact. During restoration works the original designs by Scamp started to take shape. A quire and rood screen were built on the west side of the cathedral. A pulpit was also incorporated with the screen dedicated to Sir Winston Churchill. The new chancery was dedicated by the Archbishop of Canterbury Geoffrey Fisher on 2 December 1949 in the presence of Princess Elizabeth. The east side of the cathedral was then transformed into a baptistery. The under-croft, constructed from remains of the basement of the Auberge d'Allemagne was never used. In 1928, the Bishop of Gibraltar Nugent Hicks opened the under-croft as the new parish hall. In 1938, it was transformed into a gas-proof air raid shelter, which in the early days of the conflict was used by the chaplain, his wife and scores of Maltese citizens. In 2005 it was restored and upgraded. [4]
A Valletta landmark due to its spire rising over 60 metres, it is constructed with Maltese limestone in a neo-classical style. [1] The cathedral has columns with capitals of the Corinthian order while the capitals of the six columns of the portico are of the Ionic order. [5] The internal dimensions of the building are 33.5 metres x 20.4 metres. Behind the main altar is a painting titled Ecce Homo, the work of A E Chalon, donated in 2014.
The cathedral's steeple is a landmark on its own being notably visible in the Marsamxett Harbour. [5] [6] The church building is listed on the National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands. [7] On 9 February 2017, the church council launched a project to restore the building and steeple with the aim of raising €3,000,000 to cover the costs. [8]
Above the entrance to the cathedral is located the organ that originated in Chester Cathedral in northwest England. The one-manual instrument was built in 1684 by Bernard Smith. There is a long-held tradition that it was played by George Frederick Handel when on his way to Dublin for the first public performance of the "Messiah". It is believed he carried out some final rehearsals to fine-tune some of the choruses at Chester Cathedral in 1742 when the organ was housed in the cathedral. However, it has been changed and rebuilt several times, most recently by Kenneth Jones of Dublin.
The oak panels around the high altar are a memorial to the Allied units which took part in the defence of Malta between 1940 and 1943. Twelve flags hang in the aisles representing amongst others the Royal Air Force, the British Merchant Navy, and the Royal Navy.
Valletta is an administrative unit and the capital of Malta. Located on the main island, between Marsamxett Harbour to the west and the Grand Harbour to the east, its population within administrative limits in 2014 was 6,444. According to the data from 2020 by Eurostat, the Functional Urban Area and metropolitan region covered the whole island and has a population of 480,134. Valletta is the southernmost capital of Europe, and at just 0.61 square kilometres (0.24 sq mi), it is the European Union's smallest capital city.
The Cathedral Church of St. James is an Anglican cathedral in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the location of the oldest congregation in the city, with the parish being established in 1797. The church, with construction beginning in 1850 and opening for services on June 19, 1853, was one of the largest buildings in the city at that time. It was designed by Frederick William Cumberland and is a prime example of Gothic Revival architecture.
The Cathedral of the Holy Trinity is the cathedral for the Church of England Archdeaconry of Gibraltar in the Diocese of Europe. Located in Cathedral Square, it is sometimes referred to simply as Gibraltar Cathedral, although it should not be confused with the Cathedral of St. Mary the Crowned, which is Gibraltar's Roman Catholic cathedral.
The Auberge d'Aragon is an auberge in Valletta, Malta. It was built in 1571 to house knights of the Order of Saint John from the langue of Aragon, Navarre and Catalonia. It is the only surviving auberge in Valletta which retains its original Mannerist design by the architect Girolamo Cassar.
A langue or tongue was an administrative division of the Knights Hospitaller between 1319 and 1798. The term referred to a rough ethno-linguistic division of the geographical distribution of the Order's members and possessions. Each langue was subdivided into Priories or Grand Priories, Bailiwicks and Commanderies. Each langue had an auberge as its headquarters, some of which still survive in Rhodes, Birgu and Valletta.
The Grandmaster's Palace, officially known as The Palace, is a palace in Valletta, Malta. It was built between the 16th and 18th centuries as the palace of the Grand Master of the Order of St. John, who ruled Malta from 1530 to 1798, and was also known as the Magisterial Palace. When the knights were expelled by Napoleonic France, it became the National Palace. During the period of British rule beginning in 1800, it was the Governor's Palace.
St. George's Basilica or the Basilica and Collegiate Parish Church of Saint George, also simply known as San Ġorġ in Maltese, is a historic Baroque church situated in the middle of Gozo, the second largest island in the Maltese archipelago, and is surrounded by a maze of old narrow streets and alleys. Today's basilica was built between 1672 and 1678.
This page list topics related to Malta.
The Auberge de Castille is an auberge in Valletta, Malta. The auberge is located at Castile Place, close to Saint James Cavalier, the Malta Stock Exchange, and the Upper Barrakka Gardens. It sits at the highest point of Valletta and overlooks Floriana and the Grand Harbour area.
St Paul's Anglican Cathedral is an Australian heritage-listed cathedral at 89 William Street, Rockhampton, Rockhampton Region, Queensland. It was designed principally by Annersley Voysey and built from 1883 to 1953. It is also known as St Paul's Church of England and St Paul's Church of England Cathedral. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992. The associated hall and offices were listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 23 June 2000.
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Auberge de France refers to two auberges in Valletta, Malta. They were both built in the 16th century to house knights of the Order of Saint John from the langue of France, which induced the entire Kingdom of France except for Auvergne and Provence which were separate langues.
The Auberge d'Auvergne was an auberge in Valletta, Malta. It was built in the 16th century to house knights of the Order of Saint John from the langue of Auvergne. It became a courthouse in the 19th century, and it remained so until it was destroyed by aerial bombardment in 1941. The site is now occupied by the Courts of Justice building, which was constructed in the 1960s.
The Auberge d'Italie is an auberge in Valletta, Malta. It was built at various stages in the late 16th century to house knights of the Order of Saint John from the langue of Italy, and it originally had a Mannerist design by Girolamo Cassar and several other architects. The building continued to be modified throughout the course of the 17th century, with the last major renovation being carried out in the 1680s during the magistracy of Gregorio Carafa, giving the building a Baroque character.
Girolamo Cassar was a Maltese architect and military engineer. He was the resident engineer of the Order of St. John, and was admitted into the Order in 1567. He was involved in the construction of Valletta, initially as an assistant to Francesco Laparelli, before taking over the project himself. He designed many public, religious and private buildings in the new capital city, including Saint John's Co-Cathedral, the Grandmaster's Palace and the auberges. He was the father of Vittorio Cassar, another architect and engineer.
Auberge d'Angleterre is an auberge in Birgu, Malta. It was built in around 1534 to house knights of the Order of Saint John from the langue of England. It now houses a health centre, and it is the best-preserved Hospitaller auberge in Birgu.
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The Basilica of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is a Carmelite Roman Catholic minor basilica dedicated to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, located in Valletta, Malta. It is one of the major churches of Valletta, and it forms part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site which includes the entire city. The present church was constructed between 1958 and 1981 on the site of a late 16th century church which was destroyed during World War II.
Maltese Baroque architecture is the form of Baroque architecture that developed in Malta during the 17th and 18th centuries, when the islands were under the rule of the Order of St. John. The Baroque style was introduced in Malta in the early 17th century, possibly by the Bolognese engineer Bontadino de Bontadini during the construction of the Wignacourt Aqueduct. The style became popular in the mid to late 17th century, and it reached its peak during the 18th century, when monumental Baroque structures such as Auberge de Castille were constructed.
William Scamp was an English architect and engineer. After working on the reconstruction of Windsor Castle to designs of Sir Jeffry Wyatville, he was employed by the Admiralty from 1838 to his retirement in 1867. Throughout his career of almost three decades, Scamp designed naval facilities in Britain, Malta, Gibraltar and Bermuda.
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