An archaeological and art-historical reassessment of Oratories 1 and 2 at Abbatija tad-Dejr : attempting a digital restoration of selected sections of the site using remote sensing technologies (Bachelor's dissertation).

Abstract

The subject of the research are Oratories I and II at Abbatija tad-Dejr. The site is located in Rabbat, encircled by Triq Il-Hobbejza and Triq Mons A. Buhagiar, outside of the walls of the Roman city of Melite (Fig.1) (Google Earth coordinates: 35°52'55"N14°23'36"E). Abbatija tad-Dejr is a complex and multi-period archaeological site which partly consists of a Late Roman/Byzantine period Hypogeum, sections of which were reutilised as oratories or cave-churches likely during the High Medieval period. The thesis discusses two medieval oratories of the site (more details below). The research concentrates on its architectural and artistic features. The establishment of Abbatija as a church cannot be precisely dated, but the site was surely in use from the late medieval period (14th century) to the 16th century, as its deplorable condition was described by Mgr. Pietro Dusina during his inspection of Maltese places of worship in 1575. However, some of the features within (see below) as well as the cave-church typology signify an earlier date of most probably Norman period.