The Chapel of St Anne ( mt, Kappella ta' Sant'Anna) is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

chapel in

Fort St Angelo Fort St. Angelo ( mt, Forti Sant'Anġlu or ''Fortizza Sant'Anġlu'') is a bastioned fort in Birgu, Malta, located at the centre of the Grand Harbour. It was originally built in the medieval period as a castle called the ''Castrum Maris'' ( en, Ca ...

Birgu Birgu ( mt, Il-Birgu , it, Vittoriosa), also known by its title Città Vittoriosa ("''Victorious City''"), is an old fortified city on the south side of the Grand Harbour in the South Eastern Region of Malta. The city occupies a promontory of ...

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

. Its existence was first documented in the 13th century, and according to tradition it stands on the site of an ancient temple. The present building was constructed in around 1430 and it was enlarged in 1532 by the Order of St John. The building ceased to function as a chapel in 1798, and it was used as a store, as a school and as a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

chapel before being converted back to a Catholic chapel in the mid-20th century. It has been restored and it is now managed by the

Sovereign Military Order of Malta The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta ( it, Sovrano Militare Ordine Ospedaliero di San Giovanni di Gerusalemme, di Rodi e di Malta; ...

History

According to tradition, the site of the church was formerly occupied by a

Phoenicia Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their histor ...

n temple of

Astarte Astarte (; , ) is the Hellenized form of the Ancient Near Eastern goddess Ashtart or Athtart ( Northwest Semitic), a deity closely related to Ishtar ( East Semitic), who was worshipped from the Bronze Age through classical antiquity. The name ...

, which was later rededicated to

Juno Juno commonly refers to: *Juno (mythology), the Roman goddess of marriage and queen of the gods *Juno (film), ''Juno'' (film), 2007 Juno may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional characters *Juno, in the film ''Jenny, Juno'' *Ju ...

by the

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

. The chapel was founded in the medieval period, and it was first attested in an Angevin document from 1274. It was originally dedicated to Saint Angelo and it was located at the upper level of a castle known as the ''Castrum Maris''. The castle and chapel were eventually taken over by the De Nava family. The present chapel is believed to have been constructed by the De Nava castellan in around 1430. At some points, the chapel might have been dedicated to the

Assumption of Mary The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it in 1950 in his apostolic constitution '' Munificentissimus Deus'' as follows: We proclaim and define it to be a dogma revealed by ...

and the

Epiphany Epiphany may refer to: * Epiphany (feeling), an experience of sudden and striking insight Religion * Epiphany (holiday), a Christian holiday celebrating the revelation of God the Son as a human being in Jesus Christ ** Epiphany season, or Epiph ...

The Order of St John took control of the ''Castrum Maris'' after Malta came under their rule in 1530, and the castle was gradually converted into a fortress known as

. Grand Master

Philippe Villiers de L'Isle-Adam Fra' Philippe de Villiers de L'Isle-Adam (1464 – 21 August 1534) was a prominent member of the Knights Hospitaller at Rhodes and later Malta. Having risen to the position of Prior of the ''Langue of Auvergne'', he was elected 44th Grand ...

enlarged the chapel in 1532 and converted it for his own personal use. It was also used to house the Order's repository of relics. It remained a private chapel for subsequent Hospitaller Grand Masters until the Order moved its base to

Valletta Valletta (, mt, il-Belt Valletta, ) is an administrative unit and 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 wa ...

in 1571. The chapel lost its importance at this point, but it remained in use as a church by the fort's garrison until the French occupation of Malta in 1798. In the 19th century, when Malta was under

British rule The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was hims ...

, the former chapel was used as a store for arms and ammunition, and in 1882 it was converted into a school. The chapel was no longer in use by the 1920s, but it was later reconsecrated as a

chapel for British naval personnel stationed within the fort. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, it was converted back to a Roman Catholic chapel for the fort's Maltese workers, and it was open to the general public annually on

Victory Day Victory Day is a commonly used name for public holidays in various countries, where it commemorates a nation's triumph over a hostile force in a war or the liberation of a country from hostile occupation. In many cases, multiple countries may ob ...

. Fort St Angelo remained in British hands until 1979, after which the chapel was closed. The chapel was restored in 1994. Through a treaty dated 5 December 1998 and ratified on 1 November 2001, the upper parts of the fort including the chapel were granted to the

, and the chapel was only open to the public on Victory Day. An extensive restoration of Fort St Angelo took place between 2012 and 2015, and the fort is now open to the public as a museum. Daily guided tours to the chapel were made available in 2016, and it became fully accessible to paying visitors in 2019.

Architecture

The chapel's façade contains an arched doorway and an oval window, and it is topped by a cornice and a

bell-cot A bellcote, bell-cote or bell-cot is a small framework and shelter for one or more bells. Bellcotes are most common in church architecture but are also seen on institutions such as schools. The bellcote may be carried on brackets projecting from ...

. The latter is topped by a stone Maltese cross and it contains a single bronze bell. A blocked

pointed arch A pointed arch, ogival arch, or Gothic arch is an arch with a pointed crown, whose two curving sides meet at a relatively sharp angle at the top of the arch. This architectural element was particularly important in Gothic architecture. The earlie ...

is located on the chapel's left wall. The building has an asymmetric plan and internally it contains a large

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

and several altars. Its roof is typical of 15th-century Maltese architecture. The roof is held up by a pink

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

column which is of Egyptian origin and which might have formed part of an ancient temple predating the chapel. This column is said to have been retrieved from the seabed. A crypt is located underneath the chapel and it can be accessed through a staircase. The following Grand Masters were originally buried within this crypt, but their remains were moved to

Saint John's Co-Cathedral St John's Co-Cathedral ( mt, Kon-Katidral ta' San Ġwann) is a Roman Catholic co-cathedral in Valletta, Malta, dedicated to Saint John the Baptist. It was built by the Order of St. John between 1573 and 1578, having been commissioned by Grand Mas ...

in Valletta in the late 16th century: *

(died 1534) *

Piero de Ponte Fra' Piero del Ponte (26 August 1462 – 17 November 1535) was the 45th Grand Master of the Order of Saint John between 1534 and 1535. He hailed from Asti, in northern Italy and was a descendant of the ancient family of Casal-Gros and L ...

(died 1535) * Juan de Homedes (died 1553) * Claude de la Sengle (died 1557)

References

External links

* {{Birgu 15th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Malta Buildings and structures in Birgu Church buildings of the Knights Hospitaller Former Church of England church buildings Limestone churches in Malta Medieval Maltese architecture Roman Catholic chapels in Malta Astarte