Stop 10 of 10
St Paul's Catacombs
The city of the dead, outside the walls
Narration · 3 min
Have it read to you while you look at the thing itself, hands in pockets.
3 of 3 free listens remaining · unlock every tour
Guide to St Paul's Catacombs
Roman law kept the dead outside the city walls, so the cemeteries of Melite spread across the ground that is now Rabat and then went downwards. Around two thousand square metres of interconnected tomb chambers have been excavated, and they are only part of a much larger system running under this end of the town.
Who is buried here
The earliest burials date to about the third century and the complex remained in use into the eighth. What is unusual about Malta's catacombs is the mix: pagan, Christian and Jewish burials occur in the same complex and sometimes in adjacent chambers, the Jewish tombs marked with the menorah and the Christian ones with their own signs.
Whatever divided these communities at street level, underground they shared the same rock and, by the look of the cutting, the same masons.
The agape tables
In several chambers a low circular platform has been cut from the living rock with a curved reclining bench around it, shaped exactly like a Roman dining couch.
Relatives came down on the anniversary of a death and ate together next to the grave. Finding a dining room in a tomb is disarming: this was not somewhere to be frightened of, but somewhere you went to have lunch with your grandmother.
Where the walk leaves you
Mdina and Rabat together are one story told twice: a city that shrank behind a ditch, a suburb that kept its dead, and a shipwreck that gave the island the identity it still runs on.
What to look at
- Agape tables — round rock-cut platforms with reclining benches
- Menorah carvings marking the Jewish burial areas
- How the passages were cut to follow the softest seams in the rock
Practical
- Site
- St Paul’s Catacombs, open daily. Allow an hour; several separate complexes are included.
- Underground
- Steep steps, low headroom, cool year-round. Bring a light layer.
- Onward
- The Rabat bus terminus is five minutes away, with direct buses back to Valletta.