St Luke's Garrison Chapel

The St Luke's Garrison Chapel is a defunct Anglican church which formed part of the Tigné Barracks and Cambridge Battery used by the British army till 1979. Nowadays the building is no longer used for religious purposes, and was converted into offices.[1]

St Luke's Garrison Chapel
Il-Knisja ta' San Luqa
St Luke's Garrison Chapel
35°54′26.6″N 14°30′33.9″E
LocationSliema
CountryMalta
History
StatusSecularised
Founded16 January 1910 (1910-01-16)
DedicationSt Luke
Architecture
Functional statusOffices
Completed1910

History

The foundation stone for St Luke's was laid on 16 January 1910 by the Governor of Malta, Sir Leslie Rundle. The church was built to serve the British army stationed in the Tigne Barracks thus only accessible to military personnel. The chapel was finished some months later and opened for its first service on Advent Sunday, 27 November 1910. The chapel was dedicated by William Collins Bishop of Gibraltar who also served as the Anglican Bishop of Malta.

During WWII the chapel was badly damaged and consequently was declared unsafe, with the congregation having to attend services at the nearby church of the Holy Trinity. The chapel continued to be used until 1979 when the British forces left Malta. Consequently, the chapel and the surrounding military area was let abandoned. It was still used from time to time in the 1980s to host some meetings of the Assoċjazzjoni Sportiva Tigne, cultural events and rock concerts by Rokarja AST, as well as various theatrical productions. In the early 1990s it also served as a venue for Tai Chi training and Ballroom Dancing. It was only in 2003 that restoration work on the chapel commenced.[2][3]

Interior

The interior of the church included a chancel, two aisles, nave, an organ and a vestry. There was one stone altar surrounded with Corinthian capitalised style pillars forming three panels. The altar rail was decorated with Maltese crosses with the chancel floor finished off with red tiles and white marble steps. During restoration works the original floor finishing was retained.

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References
  1. "Transforming A chapel into a state-of-the-art office", The Malta Independent, Malta, 08 December 2005. Retrieved on 28 January 2017.
  2. "St Luke's Garrison Chapel at Tigné being restored", Times of Malta, Malta, 17 June 2002. Retrieved on 28 January 2017.
  3. "Restoration of St. Luke’s Garrison Chapel", MIDI. Retrieved on 28 January 2017.
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