Description of the attraction
The Basilica of St. George is a Baroque parish church located in the heart of Victoria in a small square surrounded by a maze of old narrow streets and alleys. The modern building of the temple was built in the years 1672-1678. The local parish appeared much earlier - during the reign of the Byzantine emperor Theodosius I. On the site of the present basilica then stood the main pagan temple of the island of Gozo, which was transformed by a Greek missionary into a Christian church named after St. George. In the Middle Ages, the temple was rebuilt several times, since it could no longer accommodate all the believers. In documents from 1511, this church is considered the parish church of the entire island of Gozo. In the middle of the 16th century, the local priest Lorenzo de Apapis was taken prisoner by the Ottomans, who seriously damaged the temple. the priest managed to return home after a few years and restore the church of St. George.
The Grand Master of the Order of Malta Alof de Vignacourt in 1603 ordered Vittorio Cassar to demolish all buildings in Victoria that could serve as an outpost for the enemy during an attack on the local citadel. The Church of St. George is also included in this list. It began to be rebuilt in 1672. In those days, it was the largest Christian church on the island and the first local temple built in the form of a Latin cross.
The new church had a rich interior and exterior decoration, therefore it is often called marble or gold. The ceiling and dome were painted by the artist Gian Battista Conti. The interior of the temple is decorated with paintings and sculptures by Mattia Preti, Giuseppe d'Arena, Stefano Erardi, Alessio Erardi, Francesco V. Zahra, Giuseppe Cali.
