THE WIGNACOURT MUSEUM

This is one of Rabat Mdina's most spectacular, yet little-known sites.

The catacombs, the grotto. The highlight of the visit is the grotto where St. Paul is said to have taken refuge on his arrival in Malta in the year 60, at the origin of the Christian community on the island! Pope John Paul himself came to visit his statue here. Not to take anything away from the myth, access to the grotto is via the adjacent catacombs. In the midst of narrow labyrinthine aisles, rock-cut tombs of all sizes follow one another, some with bone fragments still present, from the Punic (Carthaginian), Roman and Christian eras. Along the way, we discover the fallout shelters where many Maltese families lived during the bombings of the Second World War. Anxious and claustrophobic visitors are advised to abstain.

Museum. The visit is very complete, as this ticket also gives access to the rather vast and accessible Museum of Religious Art, located in the baroque palace of the great Master Aloph de Wignacourt (1601-1622). Just as dark and bloody as Valletta's Museum of Fine Arts (St. Paul beheaded or St. Agatha with her breasts cut off, two of the island's classics), it features religious paintings by Mattia Preti, Francesco and Antoine de Favray.