Rabat is a city adjacent to Mdina and was formerly a suburb of the old capital. It is very closely related to the stay on the island of St. Paul in the 1st century AD. There are catacombs from the first centuries of Christianity and many interesting churches.
The town was separated by the Arabs from Mdina, which they had occupied in the 8th century. It received the name Rabat, which is used to describe the suburbs in Arabic. Currently, it is a separate city that remains somewhat in the shadow of the neighboring, more famous Mdina. Thanks to this, it is quieter here, and in terms of monuments, this place is not inferior to Mdina.
In 60 AD, the ship on which St. Paul was sailing to Rome crashed off the coast of Malta. This resulted in the Apostle's unplanned three-month stay in Malta. According to tradition, he lived in the place where Rabat is today, taught local residents and converted them to Christianity.
The remnants of these times are two catacomb complexes, the Catacombs of St. Paul and the Catacombs of St. Agata and the Grotto of St. Paul, where the Apostle was to live. All of these sites, along with the much later WWII shelters, are now part of the Wignecourt Museum, which also has extensive collections on the history of the area and an art collection.
The Old Town in Rabat comes largely from the 17th and 18th centuries. Its buildings are distinguished by richly ornamented baroque churches, the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Church of St. Paul and the Church of St. Katalda. There are also numerous historic houses and palaces, the most famous of which is the 16th-century Bernard Palace, standing on the foundations of a Roman villa. Currently, you can see the reconstructed interiors from the 18th century, which include, among others, living room, dining room, private rooms and a house chapel.
