St. Andrew's Scots Church, Malta

St Andrew's Scots church
The church of St Andrew the Apostle
Il-knisja ta' San Andrija

St. Andrew's Scots Church
St Andrew's Scots church
35°53′51.4″N 14°30′35.3″E / 35.897611°N 14.509806°E / 35.897611; 14.509806
Location Valletta
Country Malta
Denomination Church of Scotland (Presbyterian)
Methodist Church of Great Britain[1]
Website Website of the Church
History
Founded 1824
Architecture
Status Active
Architect(s) Giuseppe Bonavia
Architectural type Neo-gothic
Completed 1857
Clergy
Minister(s) Doug McRoberts

St. Andrew's Scots Church, sometimes known as the Church of Scotland, is a 19th-century church in Valletta, Malta. The church was built to the neo-gothic design of Maltese architect Giuseppe Bonavia. It is still an active church today, as a joint congregation of the Church of Scotland, as part of the Presbytery of Europe, and the Methodist Church of Great Britain.

History

The site was previously occupied by Casa Torrensi, built during the Order of St. John in the 17th-century, and carried the address number of 60. The site is located in the proximity of the Demandolx townhouses, of which two from three survived the war. The remaining two are today occupied by the Ministry of Finance.[2] The site was bought by Reverend John Keeling in 1824 in order to build the first non-Catholic church in Malta. Initially the church was built for the Methodist community, only to be later acquired by the Church of Scotland and used by the Presbyterian community. Since the turn of the 20th-century it has a mixed congregation that includes presbyterians, methodists, other protestants/reformists and some Catholics.[3] The church was built in 1857 by Reverend Dr. George Wisely. He ministered a small methodist congregation from the year it was built till 1896.[4] It was the first neo-gothic church to be built in Malta, on the designs of Maltese architect Giuseppe Bonavia.[5]

Description

The church buildings are situated in the centre of Valletta at 210 Old Bakery Street. The Sunday service (in English) is held at 10.30am. The building was formerly used solely by the Church of Scotland.

Dr Wiseley was minister of St Andrew's and Presbyterian Chaplain to the Forces in Malta from 1854 to 1914. The current minister is Rev. Kim Hurst from the Methodist Church. Previous Ministers were Rev Doug McRoberts, a Church of Scotland minister, who succeeded Methodist Rev David Morris, who in 2002 had followed Rev Colin Westmarland (minister from 1975 onwards) who was the first minister not to be a UK military chaplain.[6]

The church buildings are also regularly used by a German-speaking Lutheran congregation, the Andreas Gemeinde.

Further reading

See also

References

  1. ↑ https://books.google.com.mt/books?id=GlevAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA113&dq=st+andrew+church+valletta&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj9_bjV1eHMAhUFWhoKHcYVA-UQ6AEIKzAC#v=onepage&q=st%20andrew%20church%20valletta&f=false
  2. ↑ F. Denaro, Victor, "Yet more houses in Valletta", Melitensia, p. 15-6.
  3. ↑ http://www.malta-canada.com/churches-chapels/Valletta.htm
  4. ↑ https://books.google.com.mt/books?id=lZ1QAAAAMAAJ&q=neo-gothic+valletta+andrew&dq=neo-gothic+valletta+andrew&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjF3sX04eHMAhWEyRoKHY45AdwQ6AEIGzAA
  5. ↑ Schiavone, Michael J. (2009). Dictionary of Maltese Biographies Vol. 1 A-F. Pietà: Pubblikazzjonijiet Indipendenza. pp. 220–221. ISBN 9789993291329.
  6. ↑ http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20070923/local/150th-anniversary-of-st-andrews-scots-church.4234

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/21/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.