Gozo - Ta'Pinu

The huge basilica of Ta'Pinu with its solitary 47-meter-high campanile is the national shrine and a church of pilgrimage, not a parish church. Built in a neo-Romanesque style, at an architecturally uninspiring time between the two world wars, the taut exterior stands in austere isolation amid the surrounding cultivated fields. By contrast, the interior is plain, reverential and moving.

A place of worship has existed on the site since the early 16th century. In 1575 the original structure was condemned, but the demolition never occurred. The church was disused until the late 17th century, when it was repaired for the last time. Today the old structure is incorporated into a small chapel behind the apse.