Case Study of the Parish Church of Zejtun

IntroductionWhat led the connection to construct the Parish church service of Zejtun?Prior to the bing parish church of Zejtun, thither was what is now called theOld Parish Church of Zejtun,or more normally known as theChurch of holy man Gregory, a elevate name gained collectable to the presence of a statue of Pope perfection Gregory the salient situated near to the church. The in emplacement in figations refering the make of this church be unknown, and several architectural parts of the church indicate that parts of it were create in the 15Thursdaycentury succession others eat been constructed in the undermenti adeptd century. By the oddment of the 17Thursdaycentury and the ahead of time mature ages of the 18Thursdaycentury, the population of Zejtun has seen considerable growing. This growing resulted in the so parish church of Zejtun to go non fit for intent, in that respectfore serious idea started to be made about the demand of a church which could manipulati on a turning population.The primary event that post on paths the conception of the building of a new parish church started all collectable to a plant that the so baronial 1s of the fellowship strived to go good known. Therefore, with the want of hardlyton known and overly to be remembered for centuries, it was Gregorio Bonici who signed a contract which showed that a get to known astal-Chasirawas to be donated to the church to function as the set to raise what would go the new parish church of Aejtun. This contract displace be give tongue to to h grey been a really generous unrivalled, as the donated come out, which besides had the advantage of being in the Centre of Aejtun, could non just be the topographic point for a new monumental church, hardly it besides had the infinite for a vestry, an oratory, and besides a wide-eyed church squargon. To reaffirm the consequenceance that helpers gave towards their privation to be remembered during these ages, in the insta nce of the parish church of Aejtun, apart from Gregorio Bonici there was before besides another citizen whom donated land to the church, but this land was considered as non being a preferred one imputable to the constrains it held and besides because of its distance off from the Centre of the town, which was truly of import at that graze since it had to function for the whole community at a clip in which there was no dependable manner of transit. Besides, the Testaferrata household, the inheritors of Gregorio Bonici, hold back an communion table in the headman crypt of the church. But for baron Bonici this was non his come through contribution, he wanted to be certain that this labor moved swimmingly and reached its phase of completion, thusly he continued to shoot money towards the bread and butter of the labor movement up to a upper limit of 30 old ages after he and his married woman had died, as is found write in his secret will.hypertext transfer protocol //www.Aejtunp arish.com/pages/r1/zepDart.asp? m=394hypertext transfer protocol //www.mepa.org.mt/AejtunThe first measure to do this chore materialise motto its induction by the normal of the celebrated foundinger Lorenzo Gafa . This drop be seen in the trial study of Cocco Palmier of 1693, naming Lorenzo Gafa as the interior couturier of the program of the new church and which by that clip he had already started functional on the eastern side of the church. Almost nil washstand be said sing the old ages that followed, as the consequence of investigate that has been made in this respect is that there are no studies on what was go oning and the advancement of the undertaking. Another of import point which leaves a hint when it comes to discoursing about the primary phases of building, an point which most likely has been lost, is the original set of programs of Lorenzo Gafa . The research through with(p) by Giulia Privitelli in her thesis THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST. CATHERINE OF ALEXANDRIA I N AEJTUN AN ARCHITECTURAL APPRAISALhas resulted in the determination of paperss located in the archives of the Cathedral Museum of Mdina, which although doesnt consist of the existent programs of Gafa , there is a papers which lists three of import proportions, those of the breadth and length of the nave, and besides the dimension of the transept. These dimensions are recorded inpalmiand although some disagreements arsehole be found when it comes to smorgasbord overing these dimensions to metres, they come truly close to the existent sizes. Taking as an congresswoman the length of the nave ( without the apsis ) , it is recorded as was supposed to be 182 palmi, which converts to 46.6m, of which there is a different of merely 1.9m from the existent size, measured as 44.5m. If we were to exhaust these standards as being what Gafas plans consisted of, the result would hold been a latin-cross form church, a strain which was get downing to derive touristedity with the Maltese comm unity. With such information, it is normally understood that the being of other parts of the church, such as the side-aisles, were ulterior add-ons and non portion of Gafas original programs.It was the 25Thursdayof November 1692, when Gregorio Bonici and the remainder of the local community, turn out seen the pose of the start of the building on site, for a edifice that the locals of Aejtun felt a great demand of. On that twenty-four hours, Bishop Cocco Palmier hardened a medallion which exhi arcminuteed his coat of weaponries, inside a lead boxwood which was put at the foundation of the church.With the work of Guilia Privitelli, today we be possessed of a new position sing the architecture of the parish church of Aejtun. Privitellis thesis, in contrast with the other antecedently published literature, does non merely issue into consideration the early designs of Lorenzo Gafa and his artistic beginnings. The thesis takes into history the ulterior additions/alterations done t o the church and how these additions/alterations have been affected by the already present construction. What has besides seldom been devoted adequate importance, is that several old ages have passed from when the undertaking started until it was wholly finished to the current signifier it is today. Throughout these old ages, the ahead(p) of this undertaking has been transferred from one individual to another, and with such alteration that already by itself brings a alteration in the manner the undertaking director thinks and plants, there is besides the part of what became stylish and aesthetically more preferable at the clip of a certain building stage. When such takeors are given equal importance in a published literature, so one can get down to do comparings sing the architectural designs and augmentative inside informations that came out at different periods and under different undertaking directors.To give a farther different position, this paper will be laid out as if one doing a circuit near the parish church of Aejtun, of which foremost the outside will be discussed and so the focal point will turn about the inside of the church. outdoor(a)As stated already earlier, the parish church of Aejtun has the signifier of a Latin-cross, it is a church which has a size which is well bigger than those churches which have been antecedently built. One might believe that this thought of edifice in the signifier of a Latin-cross was due to the influences brought to us by the Knights of St. John. This is authentic, but there was besides an thought which emmerged from one of the most of import oecumenic council of theRoman Catholic Church, the Council of Trent. Although the council didnt give instructions on the manner in which a church had to be built, it gave a form in which the chief altar-space had to be flanked by transepts which were normally made externally seeable. When discoursing about the parish church of Zejtun, one can debate about whether the church still holds a true typology of a Latin-cross or non, and this is chiefly due to the ulterior add-ons of the oratory edifice and besides the side isles which made the outside of the church come out wholly different so it was intended to be by Lorenzo Gafa.FacadeA characteristic which is oftentimes recognized sing the facade, is the proportion between the breadth and the tallness, in which the horizontality is great than the breadth with a entire ratio of 1.511, composed of seven bays change integrity vertically in both equal parts ( while excepting the tam-tam towers and the frontispiece ) . The verticalness gained through the usage of Doric pilasters on the lower grade and the Ionic pilasters straight to a higher place, which reach along the whole facade do the already celebrated seven bays, is lessened with the presence of uninterrupted entablature, whence beef uping the already vehement horizontality feature. It should be noted though that if we excluded the prev ious(a) source of the sides, the facade would hold most likely consisted of merely the midway three bays, therefore the sense of horizontality would hold been wholly non present with a tallness to width ratio wholly the antonym from the current bing facade. altogether three doors of the facade along with the two statue niches above the little side doors have a triangular pediment, while the stained frappe window above the chief door has an arched pediment, besides it can be said that the frontispiece has a broken arched pediment. The frontispiece is made of a stain tablature written in the twelvemonth 1720, and it serves to mark the dedication of this church towards Saint Catherine of Alexandria. This frontispiece stands in the center of two statues, stand foring Saint Peter and Saint Paul, in which at first were the lone statues decorating the facade of the Aejtun Parish Church. It was round the eightiess that the facade was besides ornamented with two other statues in the n iches straight above the little side doors, allegoricly portraying religion ( Fede ) and hope ( Speranza ) .Side-aislesIt was rough 1779 that the side-aisles of the Aejtun Parish church were constructed, therefore traveling from the initial three halfway bays, to the current bing seven bays facade. At the clip during the 18Thursdaycentury, it was a known factor that churches wanted to portray a genuinely greater dominant opthalmic aspect over the surrounding, therefore the easiest manner this could be gained, since besides the site permitted for such undertaking particularly in the instance of the parish church of Aejtun, was the add-on of the side-aisles. The proposal for such undertaking wasnt granted license based on the thought that the church wanted to tag farther monumental laterality, but the issue of serious demand of sidelong confine support was brought frontward based on the fright that there was the casualty that the nave could fall in. This was the idea of Giuseppe Bonnici together with a figure of designers. Although this big reference book was certainly non wholly needed to merely reenforce the nave supports, when the factors of viability, need for explosion due to the turning community and besides the aesthetically pleasing optic aspect this undertaking could hold provided, were taken into consideration, the permission was to the full granted. This extension of the side-aisles brought with it several alterations, such as the little garretd stadiums on the sides, which have the act of allowing visible radiation into the church along with the several stained glass Windowss on the sides of the nave. Besides there was the building of an arched buttress screen. This undertaking has normally been understood that it had been completed on the 3rdof May 1779 due to the fact that one can betide this day of the month engraved on one of the winging buttresses, which most likely was the last flying buttress to be built.Bell TowersWhat remains t o be discussed when it comes to the west side of the church are the buzzer towers. It must be understood that even as said before, ab initio the facade of the parish church of Aejtun was wholly different due to the fact that merely the nave was existing, though this doesnt mean that there were no bell towers. When looking at the thickness of the transept walls, at their internal aeronaut walls it is noticed that these could hold been what remains of the bell towers that existed at the transepts.The architectural thought of making two bell oarsmans on the frontage was non really popular in the early seventeenth-century churches and Gafas later church designs, but the Maltese were made to alter their head as this characteristic of a two-towered westbound frontage was implemented to the Mdina Cathedral.The ground for which the location of the bell towers of the parish church of Aejtun was changed to the current place, is seen to be a forceful one, and the chief cause was due to the bad province in which the bell towers had ended. It is said that the component which diffuse current forces from the north-west way. The figure of bells which have been position in these bell towers goes up to fourteen, crossing merely over three hundred old ages. Today, the bell tower on the right houses the five to the full working bells, four of which have been produced in 2005, while another ( Antonia ) was founded in 1947 and lead on has a good tonal sound, all of which have been done by the British company John Taylor.DomeAlthough it has been said that the bell towers have been severely affected by the air current, up to the point of necessitating Reconstruction, on the contrary, at that clip the garret was still to the full structurally durable and didnt demand to be changed or restored. But the current dome of the Parish Church of Aejtun isnt the original one which was designed by Lorenzo Gafa, alternatively, the old lantern-less dome had to be dismantled and rebuilt, based on the design of Joseph Zahra. It was in early 20Thursdaycentury that the original dome was deemed to be structurally non safe, and was therefore dismantled, with Zahras design taking over. Though the dome has been reconstructed ( while wholly non following Lorenzo Gafas design ) , the original dome barrel has been kept. It can be easy noticed that the current dome design followed no geometrical order so as to do it a incorporate component together with the Lorenzos dome membranophone. The diameter of the dome has been recorded to be approximately 11.61m, merely about 0.04m less than the dome of the Mdina Cathedral.External OrnamentationApart from the two rock sculptures stand foring allegorical figures of Faith and Hope which have already been discussed, one can happen another exclusion made to figurative modeled ornament. On the marriage and south frontages of the church one can happen bull-like antefixa. These figures, although they are weewee spouts which have been modi fied, can be compared to the well-known tongue-masks , which are figures that are created so as to assist in maintaining off evil liquors. These type of tongue-masks , with broad and convex eyes and a level and widened nose have lead widely popular in Malta during the stay of the Order of Saint John. During the early 19Thursdaycentury this sculptural tradition, together with its symbolic significance, started to lose its popularity within the Maltese community. inside(prenominal)Upon come ining into the parish church of Zejtun, one can recognize the big proportions of the inside. When compared to churches attire the primary coevals, it can be said that the proportions of the parish church of Zejtun are of authoritative difference and the nave can be considered as a good illustration. The nave normally had an country which covered a span which was twice every second long as it was broad, but in the instance of Zejtuns church, the measuring ratio is 12.46, giving a stronger easter n impulse when stand on the interior. A greater nave tallness and internal light was obtained due to the attack adopted for the roofing system, which was introduced into the Maltese community by Francesco Buonamici. What can besides be noticed about the nave of the parish church of Zejtun is that it has a feature of continuity. This characteristic is present due to the Attic pilasters that follow the same right lines as those created by the elephantine pilasters at the nave degree, making a strong signifier of integrity between the lower and upper portion of the church.During the clip in which the side-aisles were non constructed, the arches that open from the nave, integrated communion tables in them. These communion tables were subsequently moved backwards due to the extension of the side-aisles. All the side-aisles communion tables are composed in the same manner, built all in a niche-like composing, with the sidelong sides of these niches decorated with pictures. One interesti ng characteristic is that they are placed within the thickness of the side-aisles walls, a characteristic which makes the side-altars different from the communion tables at the transepts and those of the choir.Some characteristics are common for all the communion tables of the church, even the chief communion table. All the communion tables are elevated by two stairss, keeping a symbolic significance that one must look or make upwards, doing the perceiver spiritually feel that there is a force which is much greater than him. Besides all communion tables have their ain, or portion between them, a cupola, in which instance the side-aisles communion tables have one cupola each, which is the same as those of the choir and the transepts, but of a smaller graduated table and which are less adorned. 11 of the communion tables have a pleasing signifier of architectural and sculptural model, of which can be in some manner considered as being of a Baroque manner, although the communion table s of the choir and the transepts are a bit over-elaborated to be wholly considered as of the Baroque manner.DecisionIn decision, it can be said that when one Tours about and inside the parish church of Zejtun dedicate to Saint Catherine of Alexandria, one is touring a church of which throughout its building has locomote in the custodies of several interior decorators, most of which have influenced the concluding signifier of the church. The different custodies, and the old ages taken for the completion, have resulted in the building of a monumental edifice, a edifice of which certainly can break function as the new religious meeting topographic point for the community of Zejtun, and a memorial which the local community thinks that is the edifice which genuinely honour its dedication to Saint Catherine of Alexandria.