St Joseph's Church

Manikata Church: 1962-1974 Richard England.

A book by Chris Abel about the Manikata Church, Malta by Richard England (Historical Monograph) (Paperback) is available at Amazon, search for it below

The church at Manikata was desiged by Richard England.Designed in 1963 and completed about 10 years later.The church with its curved walls is widely recognised as a unique entity in Malta.The small village of Manikata became a parish in 1975 and the architect who built the church took his inspiration from the "girna" which one sometimes sees in the middle of a field, a small stone building put up by farmers to store in it their implements.

At the time of its inauguration, the Manikata Church in Malta symbolized the new spirit of the Church as defined by the Vatican Council in 1963. This study highlights the way in which these new directives in architecture were introduced. The new spirit of the Church was revealed in the way greater emphasis was placed on the building to be the "house of the community", reflecting the local character and culture rather than the "house of God". Signs of worship - altar, lectern and presidential chair - were highlighted, while all other devotional objects were rendered inconspicuous; earlier churches tended to be cluttered with altars placed in several chapels.