GROTTO OF OUR LADY

The Shrine of Our Lady of Mellieha was originally a natural grotto housing a spring known for its healing properties on childhood illnesses. As in Lourdes, the Virgin would have appeared to visitors in this grotto, which has remained a place of pilgrimage. The present building was built in different stages, from the end of the 16th century to the 18th century, incorporating parts of the natural cave in which the church was born. Some great hospitable masters and Pope John Paul II visited it.