From almost anywhere on Gozo you can see this dome, which the villagers of Xewkija raised themselves over several decades. Inside, a lift takes you up into it.
Church, Victoria. Meridian Dispatch.
Come with shoulders and knees covered for the church. A scarf or light layer over summer clothes does it, and fits easily in a day bag.
From the ferry terminal, route 301 runs every 30 minutes all year. Route 323, between Victoria and the port, runs once an hour and stops right in front of the church.
The Feast of St John the Baptist, patron of the Rotunda, falls in June. Xewkija holds several lively festas, and this one is marked with celebrations across the whole village.
The Rotunda is the Church of St John the Baptist in the village of Xewkija. It is the largest church on Gozo and one of the largest in Malta. It is built of Maltese stone, the work of local masons and craftsmen.
The church puts its dome at about 27 to 28 m across and 75 m high, and claims it as the third largest unsupported dome in the world.
The classic style makes the building look older than it is. Work began in 1952 and the structure was finished in 1970, mostly by hand and with little machinery. The women of the village carried a large share of that work alongside the men.
Past the main floor of the church, the Sculpture Museum holds the art and masonry of the 17th-century church that stood here before. Look round the church first, then go through.
Every stone of that older church was numbered, taken down and rebuilt exactly inside the museum. Its carvings stand again as they did in the original building.
The visit ends with the lift up to the dome. Ask at the door that the lift is running before you plan around it.
Allow time in the Sculpture Museum. Some of the old Maltese stone there is carved as delicately as lace, and the detail only shows close up.
Xewkija sits on the main road between the Mġarr ferry port and Victoria. That makes the Rotunda an easy stop on the way to or from the boat.
You can walk the Cittadella's ramparts in Victoria, Gozo's capital, after dinner, and in the morning catch a bus from the terminal below to any corner of the island.
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