Pubblikazzjonijiet Indipen-denza, PIN, have published another volume of Treasures in Maltese Churches by Tony Terribile. This volume is about the first churches of Gozo – Victoria and Fontana.

This is the first volume to deal with the treasures to be found in churches in Gozo. It focuses on Victoria, the only town on the sister island, together with its suburb, Fontana. Apart from the parish church of Fontana, there are 18 churches in Victoria and its outskirts.

The cathedral, dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin, is a noble structure that was designed by the foremost baroque Maltese architect, Lorenzo Gafà (1630-1704). According to tradition, it is built on the site of a Phoenician temple dedicated to the goddess Astarte who, in Roman times, became the goddess Juno.

With the coming of Christianity, the site was converted into a church. Over the centuries, it was rebuilt several times until it assumed its present form after the earthquake of 1693 had badly damaged the old church.

In 1716, it was consecrated by Bishop Giacomo Cannaves. Its profile above the surrounding bastions of the Cittadella, is one of the characteristic features of the island.

Apart from the cathedral, the cittadella has two other churches. One, which is dedicated to St Joseph, was built in 1625 through the munificence of Bishop Baldassare Cagliares on the site of a chapel dedicated to St Nicholas of Bari.

The second church, that of St Barbara, was built in the early 17th century and was originally dedicated to St John the Baptist. The military engineer Vittorio Cassar, son of Girolamo Cassar, is buried inside.

Fontana takes its name from the ancient public washing fountain, hence its Maltese name of Ta’ Triq il-Ghajn. Originally just an extension of Victoria on the way to Xlendi, it was first declared a vice-parish on 30 December 1908 and eventually granted parochial status on 27 March 1911.

The building of Fontana church began in 1893 and was completed in 1903. The papier-maché titular statue of The Sacred Heart of Jesus, which replaced an earlier one bought from Rome, was made in 1923 by Agostino Camilleri (1885-1979). It is one of two titular statues in Gozo – the other being that of St Paul at Munxar – made by the well-known Gozitan sculptor. A marble bust by Carlo Pisi of Rev. Giuseppe Hili, the first parish priest of Fontana, is another notable piece in the church.