St Paul’s Catacombs in Rabat, managed by Heritage Malta, are the largest and one of the most important early Christian burial grounds on the Maltese islands. They cover an area of about 2,166 square metres.
The site was cleaned and surveyed by A.A. Caruana in 1894. All the tombs had, however, already been looted, and no burials were found intact.
St Paul’s probably started as a smaller catacomb, but was subsequently enlarged by joining up neighbouring hypogea to serve as a communal burial space.
Several parts of the catacomb show evidence of recutting, which suggests continued use of the cemetery. A
section of the catacomb may have been reused as a shrine when the Maltese islands were re-Christianised.
The original access down to the catacombs was by 18 steps cut into a rock shaft.
Loculi tombs and lamp-holes are dug into the sides of the shaft. Inside the entrance, a large pilaster separates the space into two halls, one of which is at a slightly lower level than the other and is reached by two flights of three steps each.
The hall on the left may have been reused as a shrine during the late Middle Ages, and a shallow, arched niche in the north-east wall may have been cut during this time.
A shallow rectangular recess is cut into the floor towards the middle of the hall, with a small pit at one end, and two square holes flanking its south west side. One of these holes contains the plinth of a column that was found nearby during the 1894 survey.
The hall on the right contains two large triclinia with circular tables facing each other.
One of these triclinia was at some stage mutilated when a corridor was dug to lead into an extension of the catacomb.
The exedra of the other triclinium appears to have been decorated with red ochre.
The main burial space within the catacombs consists of a hall with 11 baldacchino tombs that divide the area into two corridors. The remains of a mural can still be seen on one of these tombs.
The mural, painted in red ochre, shows a seated figure with the word “farewell” painted above it, together with the representation of an anchor, symbolising hope.
Some inscriptions in the catacombs record the name and age of the deceased, while the sealing slab of a tomb shows a group of 14 surgical tools, possibly indicating the profession of the individual buried in that particular tomb.
Tombs were cut in the rock manually by grave-diggers, who also carved small niches in the walls of the catacombs to hold lamps for lighting. Seven types of tombs are represented in the Maltese catacombs. These can all be seen at St Paul’s Catacombs and are:
• window tomb, consisting of an oval chamber dug in the rock with a window-like opening leading to it;
• arcosolium, a wide arch cut in the rock with one or more burial-troughs at its base;
• loculus, a rectangular recess dug into the walls or sides of tombs. This type of tomb was mostly used for the burial of infants;
• table tomb, a rock-cut sarcophagus with burial troughs. This is usually covered with large stone slabs;
• bench tomb, a rectangular trough cut into benches that may have originally been used as seating spaces.
• baldacchino tomb, a table tomb with corner pilasters that link up to the ceiling to form a canopy-type covering; and
• floor tomb, a rectangular burial trough cut into the floor. Floor tombs were probably dug when there was no more space for other tombs in the cata-comb.
St Paul’s Catacombs can be visited on any day of the week between 9am and 5pm, including weekends and public holidays.
A multi-lingual audio guide, which
is available in five languages: Maltese, English, Italian, French and German, is included in the admission fee.
Article provided by Heritage Malta