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Ninety seconds on St Paul's Shipwreck Church
Yes. It is a free working parish church on St Paul Street in Valletta, dedicated to the shipwreck that brought Christianity to Malta, and no ticket is needed to go in and see the relics and the shipwreck painting.
One visitor guide lists two sessions a day. On weekdays that is 07:30 to 12:00 and 17:30 to 19:00; on Saturday the morning ends at 10:30 and the evening runs 17:30 to 19:00, and on Sunday it opens 07:30 to 12:30 and 17:00 to 19:00.
The feast falls on 10 February each year, a public holiday in Malta. It is the church's biggest day: the Cafà statue is carried in procession through the streets, and the occasion is atmospheric but busy.
This church on St Paul Street, one of Valletta's oldest, keeps relics of the saint whose shipwreck the Maltese regard as the moment their islands turned Christian, and a lavish Baroque interior behind its modest front.
It is neither the largest nor the most ornate church on the island. Its draw is the shipwreck story, told through its art. Matteo Perez d'Aleccio's altarpiece shows the shipwreck itself, and paintings by Giuseppe Calì hang among the marble interiors around it.
The most venerated work is the wooden statue of St Paul, carved by Melchiorre Cafà in 1659. Built in the 1570s, the church is one of the oldest Roman Catholic parish churches in Malta.
Two relics are the reason many visitors come. One is a fragment of Paul's right wrist bone. The other is part of the marble column from the Three Fountains in Rome, where he was beheaded.
On St Paul Street, watch the house numbers, because the frontage is modest and easy to walk past. Once inside, the decoration is far grander than the street front suggests.
Start at the two relic chapels, which sit on opposite sides of the church. The wrist bone and the column fragment each rest in a labelled reliquary.
After both chapels, circle back to the high altar and the d'Aleccio altarpiece. Look for the Cafà statue of the saint before you leave.
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