Old St.Venera Church

The first church which stood on this site was built in 1473. It was rebuilt between 1658 and 1688 and this present building which is still in use is dates back to the 19th Century. The church was given to the  Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, better known as ‘The Carmelites’  on 12 December 1912  and became a parish church on the  4th September 1918.

Large paintings hang on each side of the church, the left depicting Our Lady of Mount Carmel – executed by the artist Ramiro Cali in 1924 and to the right The Crucifixion, author and date unkown.

The titular painting of St. Venera is attributed to Filippino Dingli.

The church became too small to cater for the town's growing population by the mid-20th century, so a storeroom not too far away began to be used as a temporary church in 1947, and a new parish church began to be built in 1954. The old church remained the parish church of Sdanta Venera until 3 December 1989.