The Sanctuary Basilica of the Assumption of Our Lady (), commonly known as the Rotunda of Mosta () or the Mosta Dome, is a Roman Catholic parish church and

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica (Greek Basiliké) was a large public building with multiple functions that was typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek Eas ...

Mosta Mosta () is a small but densely populated city in the Northern Region of Malta. The most prominent building in Mosta is the Rotunda, a large basilica built by its parishioners' volunteer labour. It features the world's 3rd largest unsupported ...

, Malta, dedicated to the

Assumption of Mary The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Catholic Mariology#Dogmatic teachings, Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it on 1 November 1950 in his apostolic constitution as follows: It leaves open the question of w ...

. It was built between 1833 and the 1860s to neoclassical designs of Giorgio Grognet de Vassé, on the site of an earlier

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

church which had been built around 1614 to designs of Tommaso Dingli. The design of the church is based on the Pantheon in Rome, has the third-largest unsupported dome in the world, and is Malta's largest church. The church narrowly avoided destruction during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

when on 9 April 1942 a German aerial bomb pierced the dome and fell into the church during Mass, but failed to explode.

History

Pietro Dusina Pietro Dusina was an Italian Roman Catholic priest from Brescia who was the inquisitor and apostolic delegate to Malta between 1574 and 1575. Dusina was nominated inquisitor of Malta by Pope Gregory XIII on 3 July 1574, and he arrived on the isl ...

recorded Mosta as a parish in his 1575 pastoral visit; the town actually became a parish in 1608. Plans to construct a new church began soon afterwards, and the church was built in around 1614 to designs attributed to the

architect Tommaso Dingli. This church was commonly called ''Ta' Ziri''. By the 1830s the town's population had become too large for the church. Giorgio Grognet de Vassé proposed rebuilding the church on a neoclassical design based on the Pantheon in Rome. Opposed by Bishop Francesco Saverio Caruana, the design was approved, and construction of the church began on 30 May 1833. Malta - Mosta - Rotunda in sacristy - Il-Miraklu tal-Bomba 01 ies

Malta - Mosta - Rotunda in sacristy - Il-Miraklu tal-Bomba 01 ies

The new church was built around the old church, which remained in use throughout the course of construction. The residents of Mosta helped in building the church, taking part in construction work on Sundays and public holidays. Since Grognet had never received any formal architectural training, he received consultation services from an architect of the Sammut family. The rotunda took 28 years to build, being completed in the early 1860s. The old church was demolished in 1860, and the new church did not need to be consecrated since the site had remained a place of worship throughout the course of construction. The church was officially dedicated on 15 October 1871. In a bombing by the Nazi air force on 9 April 1942, duringthe Siege of Malta in World War II, a bomb pierced the dome and entered the church. The bomb did not explode, and a

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...

Bomb Disposal unit defused it and dumped it into the sea off the west coast of Malta. This event was interpreted as a miracle by the inhabitants, and the casing of an identical bomb is now displayed in the sacristy at the back of the church. On 2 May 1983, taxi driver Carmelo Aquilina deliberately drove a Mercedes car into the Rotunda following a bet. He drove up the steps of the parvis, broke down the main doorway, and stopped within the church close to the altar. Aquilina was arrested and received a three-month prison sentence while his driving licence was suspended. In 2015 the parish asked the Vatican to be reclassified to the status of a

. The church was elevated to a minor basilica on 29 July 2018.

Architecture

The Rotunda of Mosta is built in the

neoclassical style Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassici ...

, and its structure is based on the Pantheon in Rome. Its façade has a

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cu ...

with six Ionic columns, which is flanked by two

bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell to ...

s. Being a rotunda, the church has a circular plan with walls about thick supporting a dome with an internal diameter of . At one time, the dome was the third-largest in the world. The church's interior contains eight niches, including a bay containing the main entrance and a deep

apse In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical Vault (architecture), vault or semi-dome, also known as an ' ...

with the main altar. Before the church was constructed, there was some opposition to Grognet's design, since some regarded a Roman temple as an unsuitable model for a Catholic church building. Others praised the design, and an 1839 book written while the church was being built described it as "certainly the most magnificent, extensive and solid modern building" in Malta and said "when finished, he churchwill be an ornament to the Island, will immortalize the architect, and draw towards the casal every visitor to Malta." The design was well-received upon completion, and it is regarded as Grognet's

masterpiece A masterpiece, , or ; ; ) is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, skill, profundity, or workmanship. Historically, ...

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control 1860s establishments in Malta Mosta Basilica churches in Malta 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Malta Roman Catholic churches completed in the 1860s Limestone churches in Malta Round churches Church buildings with domes Rotundas in Europe Neoclassical church buildings in Malta Assumption of Mary

History

Architecture

See also

References

Further reading

External links