This is the final article in a five-part series. 

• Part one: One streetscape at a time
• Part two: 'Every corner has a story to tell'
• Part three: The townhouses of Malta
• Part four: Disappearing daily streetlife

They say there is a church for every day of the year in Malta and rightly so. Close to 360 churches and chapels dot the island’s skyline. And this does not take into account the ones that were lost over time.

St Joseph parish church, Kalkara

The above is not just a saying, photographer Jean-Paul Borg notes, but a fact that anyone living in Malta comes across every day.

“Churches and chapels are everywhere, sometimes even a stone’s throw away from each other,” Borg, who is behind the social media project Kappa Vision, says.

“Today, churches and chapels are not only part of our heritage and the traditional Maltese landscape but they are also part of our culture and way of life,” he adds.

The architecture of most of these religious edifices is nothing short of astounding. Borg finds fascinating the way many churches and chapels have been rebuilt or modified over the centuries.

“It is not uncommon to find churches having various architectural styles from different periods mixed together,” he says.

The chapel of Our Lady of Abandoned Souls, Żebbuġ, Malta

These monuments to the Maltese people’s faith shape and define our country, its landscape and its culture

Borg considers baroque to be a very neat and elegant style adopted for many churches across the Maltese islands, from the 17th to early 20th century. However, he is especially enamoured with the neo-gothic style. Examples include the parish church of Għajnsielem and the chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes perched on top of Mġarr Harbour hill.

Borg could not help but mention the basilica of Our Lady of Ta’ Pinu.

St Jacob church, Xgħajra

“The romanesque revival architecture of the monumental basilica is simply outstanding as well as the fact that the church is set in the open countryside,” he says, while noting that one does not find a church of that size in such a setting in Malta.

Since he started his project four years ago, the photographer has shot plenty of churches and chapels but has many left in his personal to-do list. Besides photos, he does a lot of research about his ‘finds’ and posts this information alongside each photo he uploads on the Kappa Vision Facebook page.

“Managing to photograph and document them all would be incredible on a personal level. I definitely aspire to achieving that goal one day,” he enthuses.

Among the temples he has managed to capture, he particularly likes the chapel of Our Lady of Lourdes, in Mġarr as well as the wayside chapel known as Ta’ Ħamet, in Xewkija, which has all the semblances of a large church but on a miniature scale.

In Malta, the church with the buttressed walls known as Tas-Sanċir, in Rabat has an intriguing history as well as architecture.

Two in one: St Lucy church (right) and Our Lady of Victories church, Naxxar

“It is one of the few places of worship in Malta that are still in their original state today, as many of them have been demolished, rebuilt or modified at least once throughout their history,” Borg points out.

Għajnsielem parish church, dedicated to Our Lady of Loreto

His favourite church of all is, however, the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Graces, in Żabbar, which he describes as “a strikingly beautiful church with very fine, intricate stonework embellished with precious works of art inside”.

Although a good number of chapels and churches have been restored in recent years, several others still need attention. Among these, Borg highlights the church of St Paul, in Cospicua − which will actually be restored later this year − and St Jacob church, in Xgħajra.

“Safeguarding churches and chapels for us and future generations should feature high on our agenda because these monuments to the Maltese people’s faith shape and define our country, its landscape and its culture.”

This is the last part of the series of articles on the Kappa Vision project. One may view more of Jean-Paul Borg’s work on the Facebook page Kappa Vision or follow his Instagram account @kappavision_gram.

The chapel known as Ta’ Ħamet, in Xewkija