Valletta - Church of St Paul the Shipwrecked

On the same side of Paul Street as the University of Malta, beyond the Market, is the Church of St Paul Shipwrecked, with a sumptuous interior containing a fine altar-piece depicting the shipwreck by Paladini (1544-1614). beyond the Market, is the Church of St Paul Shipwrecked, with a sumptuous interior containing a fine altar-piece depicting the shipwreck by Paladini (1544-1614).

Cassar originally built this church but it has been remodeled and redecorated twice since. As befits a building dedicated to one of Malta's patron saints, it is lavish, and it houses some venerated possessions. The plan is a Latin Cross, the dome elliptical and the floor tessellated. The wooden gilded statue of St Paul is by Melchiorre Gafa and is solemnly carried through the streets on February 10 every year, the day St Paul's shipwreck is commemorated. Gafa's brother Lorenzo designed the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament in 1680 and de Favray painted the altarpiece. The ceiling frescoes depict St Paul's brief sojourn in Malta and were painted at the turn of the century, while the main altarpiece of St Paul and St Luke is from the late 16th century and by the Florentine, Filippo Paladini.

Donated to the church by Pope Pius VII in 1818 and most treasured of all, is part of the block upon which St Paul was said to have been beheaded, as well as what is believed to be part of his wristbone.