The parish church of St. Catherine- Żurrieq

Abstract

The history of the Parish Church of St. Catherine at Zurrieq reaches out to very early times. The 4th century paleo-chri stian catacombs at neighbouring Tal-Menta and Tal-Liebru; the "post-muslim" ruins of the chapel of St. Cyr at Bubaqra ; the remains of the early medieval chapels at the Baqqari dating back to just after the re-christianisation period ; and the nationally renowned mid-15th century Hal-Millieri chapel with its wonderful medieval frescoes, are to be considered as the main monumental stages of the history of the parish church of Zurrieq. Indeed, archaeological excavations at Hal-Millieri show that the present late-medieval siculonorman chapel was preceeded by an earlier frescoed edifice, the stones of which had been re-utilised from the remains of a Roman building.