Malta - Mdina and the Crypts/Catacombs

As close as 15 minutes apart are the two villiages of Rabat and Mdina. Rabat has an interesting claim to fame - crypts. Here is a little history to explaine the importance of the crypts. The Roman Emperor Trajanus Decius (AD 249-251) decided that being Christian was a bad thing. Legend has it that Agatha, a beautiful, rich devout Christian fled her home in Sicily to take refuge in Malta. She was eventually returned to Italy and was brought before a magistrate named Quinctianus who decided that he wouldn't be happy until Agatha was his. She refused and Quinctianus decided to try and convince her by sending her to work in a brothel. Agatha refused customers so the next step in Quinctianus' plan was torture. She was beaten, imprisoned, tortured, her breasts were crushed and cut off. She was then imprisoned again, then rolled on live coals; when she was near death, an earthquake stuck. In the destruction that followed, a friend of the magistrate was crushed, and the magistrate fled. Agatha thanked God for an end to her pain, and died a martyr. She was later sainted. The crypt of St. Agatha is hewn in live rock. It is an underground basilica, which from early ages was venerated by the Maltese. At the time of St. Agatha's stay, the crypt was a small natural cave which later on, during the 4th or 5th century, was enlarged and embellished. At the far end of the crypt, there is the main altar dedicated to the Saint. Till 1647, this altar was still used for worship.The crypt is adorned by a good number of frescoes. Some of them date back to the 12th century and are in Byzantine style. The others, which are in Greek style, date back to the 15th century (1480). There are 30 images of saints, out of which, 13 represent St. Agatha. The remainder represent bishop saints, virgin and martyr saints.The 15th century frescoes are attributed to the Sicilian painter Salvatore D'Antonio. These were donated to the crypt by various devotees, offered in thanksgiving. Other paintings are still visible in the ceiling at the entrance on the right hand. Being inside the crypts was an interesting experience. It is different from most things that Josh and I have done before because there are very few restrictions. We were allowed to roam free in the crypts, touch the rocks and investigate as much as we wanted. The one restriction was no photography was allowed in these crypts because of the frescos. Another thing to see at the complex is a tiny museum. They have a lot of pottery, skeletons and other things that were found during the excivation of these crypts.

A short walk down athe hill brings us to St Pauls Catacombs. The Catacombs of St. Paul are not themselves associated with Paul but derive their name from their proximity to St. Paul's Church and Grotto. They are a fascinating labyrinth of 3rd-century AD subterranean tombs and the earliest archaeological evidence of Christianity in Malta.
St. Paul's Catacombs incorporates tombs for more than 1,000 bodies in 2,200 square meters. Not all of the site is accessible, but enough is open to the public to provide a fascinating look at several different types of tombs. The photos in the post below are all from St. Pauls. In one photo, you will notice a round circle in the stone floor. That was where a table would be placed for the mourners. It was tradition to have your wake in the crypt next to the dead body. Family and friends would gather in the crypt and lounge around a table with food and drink. This was stopped after a while because people were having a little too much fun getting their drink on with dead relatives. You can see in the photos that there are shelves in the walls. Some were for alters, normally placed across from the table area. The others were for bodies. As you can see, some are very small. These were made for infants and children.

Having spent all morning in the Crypts/Catacombs, we decided to head to Mdina. Mdina is the old capital of Malta. Mdina is a medieval walled town situated on a hill in the centre of the island and is commonly called the "Silent City" by natives and visitors. No cars are allowed within the city walls. The town is still confined within its walls, and has a population of less than three hundred, but it is contiguous with the village of Rabat, which takes its name from the Arabic word for suburb, and has a population of over 11,000. It is an amazingly beautiful town with stunning views and a very interesting museum - the Dungeons.
Located just inside the city’s main gate, the Mdina Dungeons house a series of life-size fibre glass tableaux representing characters, famous and infamous, from Malta’s history.
The exhibits present vivid pictures of sufferance and cruelties experienced and the life-like figures in period costume are shown handling instruments, tools and utensils associated with that subterranean environment. It isn't for the faint of heart and I would seriously think before taking Skye and Jax there, but it was really neat to see something a little different.

You may think that Josh and I had a "day of death" from this post. We did end the afternoon on a light note though. There is a wonderful tea room called Fontenelle located near a city wall that overlooks the island. We enjoyed some lovely sandwhiches and tea only to cap it of with a slice of heavenly banana cream cake.