The religious heritage of Malta is

The religious heritage of tiny Malta is huge: cathedrals, basilicas, parish churches, monasteries, sanctuaries are found here at every turn. However, all their beauty, power and glory fade before the charm of the modest rural chapels that are scattered throughout the Maltese cities and towns. This is dedicated to them poems by poets, painters draw them and photographers take pictures, they have Sunday "after-dinner" local residents with their children and domestic. What is the secret of their popularity?

First, many of them are built in surprisingly picturesque places .Take, for example, the coast of Imtahleb, from the exciting and vibrant beauty of which captures the spirit of .Here come to admire the clouds that go across the sky with a long chain, and sunsets .This is the patrimony of high-rise coastal cliffs, gorges, half-submerged caves and hills covered with a rare shrub .Here, on this edge of the earth, stands the chapel Sv .Mary Winners .It seems that it is as much of a green-gray-blue landscape as grass, rocks and sea, although its dome is al, and the walls are ocher colors .This chapel was and remains a popular place of pilgrimage and rest to this day .Every year, in honor of the patron saint of the church, a small festival (feast) with a procession, music, fireworks and a fair is held here, where you can buy (or better still win) a basket of fresh vegetables or a live rabbit..

Secondly, almost to every chapel "attached" touching, and sometimes a tragic legend. Who would refuse to go where miracles happened? There are plenty of such places in the Maltese Islands, and the traditions of each other are more curious (although it is hard to believe in them). More interesting than all those in which fictional events are mixed with historical facts. Here is one of them:

In ancient times, the inhabitants of Malta and especially Gozo suffered from pirate raids. One day, during one such raid, a woman named Zgugin was stolen from her son. The unhappy woman rushed to the chapel of St. Demetrius, collapsed on her knees before the image, begging to return it. And the saint heard her screams, and got off the canvas, and rushed to chase the pirates, and beat off the little boy from them, and returned Zgugine. Do not you believe that it was so? Then do not be lazy and explore the surrounding rocks - on the stones there were traces of the horseshoes of the horse of St. Demetrius!

Thirdly, some ancient chapels are real masterpieces of architecture (usually in the Baroque style) .The most beautiful of them is rightly considered the church of Divine Providence, or in Maltese Tal-Providence .It stands on the outskirts of the village of Sidgivi, among the fields and vineyards, and no one is able to pass it without looking at least for a minute .The main decoration of Tal-Providence - an elegant portico .Once it was added to strengthen the building, which suffered from a lightning strike, but it was this compulsorily added detail that gave the architect the completeness of .Once this church was known as the center of veneration of the cult of Divine Providence: pilgrims came here, bringing ex-voto - thanksgiving gifts to the Theotokos who answered their prayers .This cult, in addition to the name, resembles a bas-relief on the ceiling of the portico and a Latin quote from the Gospel of Matthew: "Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feeds them .Are you not much better than them? »

Finally, the fourth, modest rural chapels do not pretend to glory their elder sisters and brothers - the cathedrals and basilicas. There is no fuss around them, which inevitably arises with the influx of tourists hurrying to touch famous sights. Let them be modest, simple decoration and stand, as a rule, away from the main tourist routes ... the spirit from them comes from the very one we expect from religious monuments - the sublime, the righteous, the divine.