St George, Qormi (Citta Pinto)

Qormi was one of the ten original parishes of Malta. The present church dedicated to St George is the thrid building on the site dates from 1585, incorporating the site and stones from the earlier structures. St George was enlarged in 1684 by Lorenzo Gafa with an elegant facade,  a cruciform shape and an imposing dome. The church was dedicated on 6th May 1731.
.

The titular painting of St George the Martyr  is the last known work by Mattia Preti.

St Mary, Birkirkara

The old parish church of St Mary Birkirkara was begun in the early 1600's by Vittorio Cassar and completed in 1617 by Tommaso Dingli. The tower and the interior are designed by Cassar and the facade by Dingli.

St Mary  has some of the finest carved stone decoration in Malta, on the facade and especially in the interior. There is a tradition that the craftsman was a Sicilian criminal who had sought refuge in the church. this is unlikely as the carving at Tommaso Dingli's earlier church at Attard seems to have been by the same hand. The beautiful church fell into disrepair and is now undergoing restoration.

.

St Philip, Zebbug (Citta Rohan)

The original parish church of Zebbug dedicated to St Philip of Agira was built in 1380. It was replaced in the late 17th century by the present church designed by Tommaso Dingli. Under the Knights of St John, Zebbug was one of the principal towns on the island and in 1777 was bestowed with the title Citta Rohan, by Grand Master Emmanuel Rohan-Polduc. The magnificence of the church is due in large part to the number of leading corsairs who lived in the parish and endowed St Phillip in gratitude for their good fortune.

The magnificent titular painting is by Luca Garnier. There are also two murals by Fransceco Zahra, an 18th Maltese painter of the school of  Favray and a Guido Reni. During the French Revolutionary regime (1798-1800) the Maltese churches were plundered to finance Napoleon's campaign, however the people of Zabbar when they heard that the French were coming opened the church doors and hid all the church gold and silver. When the French saw that the church doors were open they passed by, leaving St Philip with its treasure intact.

Annunciation of Our Lady, Balzan

The small village of Balzan was elevated to the status of a parish in the 17th century. The village was named  after Maximillian Balzan a Spanish merchant who settled in Malta in 1567. He was granted the land where the village now stands for services to the Order of St John.

The parish church dedicated to the Annunciation of Our Lady dates from the mid 17th century in the form of a Latin cross, with one belfry and an elegant dome. The foundation stone was laid in 1669 and the church was completed in 1693. The facade is rather unusual with elongated pilasters and rich lace-like decoration that give it a Spanish feel.

St Saviour, Lija

The splendid parish church of St Saviour, Lija was designed in 1694 by the Maltese architect Giovanni Barbara. That it was completed in only six years is evidence of the prosperity of the Maltese derived in great part from the proceeds of the Corso. Giovanni Barbara was born c 1670 in Lija and became famous both in Malta and abroad as a military engineer. st Saviour was one of his first important commissions, and it is by Maltese standards and by his own later work, a simple design.

St Saviour's tall character is accentuated by the western towers which flank the facade. A facade that employs the Corinthian order, while inside Barbara used the Doric order. The dome is relatively small, rising behind the parapet of the tall drum.

St Saviour now stands in a state of somewhat splendid isolation in the middle of Lija after the surrounding houses were demolished.

Assumption of Our Lady, Birkirkara

The Church of the Assumption of Our Lady is the old parish church of Birkirkara. The church was designed by Vittorio Cassar around 1600 and in plan is laid out on the Latin Cross. The carved interior is one of the richest on the island.

The finest part of the building though is the facade which was designed by the young Tommasso Dingli and begun in 1617. The facade is based on a classical temple front and is said to have been the first use of giant Corinthian capitals in Malta. The exquisite carving of the interior is repeated on the facade to wonderful effect. The delicacy and detail of the ornamentation that would never be equaled in Malta again.. A probably apocryphal story is that the carving was the work of a Sicilian criminal who had sought sanctuary in the church.

In 1753 the Church of St.Helen was built and this replaced the Assumption of the Virgin as the parish church of Birkirkara.  The unused church was allowed to deteriorate, until during  the earthquake of 1856 the dome and the roof collapsed.

Our Lady of Graces, Zabbar

The church of Zabbar, dedicated to Our Lady of Graces  originally belonged to the parish of Zejtun. In   December 1615, at the request of the inhabitants, Zabbar was raised to a parish in its own right.

Building of this magnificent parish church began in 1641 to the design of Maltese architect Thommaso Dingli and was completed in 1696. The result is a vast and imposing church, in the form of a Latin cross, with a facade built in the Corinthian Order. The church has a choir, two side chapels, a nave with ten alters and two sacristies, surmounted by a  majestic cupola  flanked by  two bell towers.

The church contains many  relics,  among them  the body of St. Feliciano which was presented by the parish priest in 1757. Devotion to Our lady of Graces has been shown for centuries by the Maltese and particularly by seafarers, whose share of the bounty from the Order's corso enabled the magnificent parish church to be built, many of them left touching votive offerings to Our Lady, as tokens of gratitude for their survival at sea.