Standing majestically on a promontory overlooking Mgarr Harbour is the chapel dedicated to our Lady of Lourdes. Before it was built, a visitor pointed out that the rocks on the hill the chapel now stands on were similar to the Grotto of Massabielle in Lourdes. Soon after, in 1879, a statue of Our Lady of Lourdes was placed in a natural cavity beneath the promontory. Forthwith the building of the chapel started and it was finished nine years later.
Gothic in style, the chapel has a steeply pitched roof, lance windows and a number of buttresses topped with pinnacles. Its tower has five bells and at its top, right under the spire there are four clocks, one on each side. The gable of the main door is adorned with a circular rose window. The interior of the chapel is dominated by the statue of the Virgin Mary of Lourdes, above the altar, and has a ribbed Gothic vaulted roof.
Every 11th of February, the date of the first apparition of Lourdes, the feast is celebrated. People from all over the island flock to the chapel and many also return on all eighteen apparitions to pray and to hear mass.
When visiting the chapel don’t forget to take a moment and stop outside to enjoy the magnificent views of the Gozo channel and the island of Malta!
