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The Basilica Ta'Pinu has been condemned three times in its
history but has survived in one form or the other to this
day. A full story of its history can be found
here.
In
short though, the original church is known to date back to
at least 1534. Ta'Pinu was not, and still is not, a parish
church, it is rather a church for pilgrims.
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The first threat of demolition came in 1575. Tradition
has it that when the first demolition blow was struck, the
worker's arm broke. Gozitians are suspicious by nature and
that was enough to spare the church. The church was lovingly
restored by Pillippinu Gauci (hence the abbreviation Pinu)
in 1619.
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By 1654 though, the state of
repair of the church was deemed bad enough for it to
be closed and demolition was once more threatened.
Pillippinu Gauci's daughter then came to the rescue,
restoring the church to it's former glory in 1676.
Time passed and by 1879 the
church was again in a dangerous state of repair and
demolition looked likely. But in 1883, Carmela Grima
was walking past the church and she heard a voice
asking her to recite three Hail Marys'. Word spread
round the the area and over the next few years many
miracles were attributed to the grace of Our Lady of
Assumption to whom the church was dedicated. |
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The church was entirely rebuilt and massively
expanded in the 1920s with the original church
housed inside the new church. In 1931, the church
was complete. Pope Pius XI then assigned it the
title of a basilica in 1932. In 1990 Pope John Paul
II visited Ta'Pinu. Nowadays, the Basilica is kept in
excellent repair with many Gozitians visiting it for
the weekly mass. For the tourist the basilica is
well worth a visit. One thing is for sure,
directions will not be a problem because it stands
out on the skyline with no other buildings matching
its height or stature. |
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