Gudja

Gudja
(Il-Gudja)

coat of arms	map
Basic data
State :	Malta
Gzejjer :	Malta Xlokk (Southeast Malta)
Distretti :	South Eastern
Area :	2,250,139 km²
Residents :	3184 (December 31, 2018)
Population density :	1415 inhabitants / km²
ISO 3166-2 :	MT-11
Postal code :	GDJ
Website :	www.gudja.org.mt
politics
Mayor :	John Mary Calleja ( MLP )

Coordinates: 35 ° 51 '  N , 14 ° 30'  E

Gudja (or Il-Gudja ) is a village in Malta with 3184 inhabitants (as of December 31, 2018). It is located on a small hill south of the Great Harbor and from there you can overlook Malta Airport .

Gudja's coat of arms bears the motto "PLURIBUS PARENS" (German: mother of many children). These children are Safi , Kirkop , Ħal-Farruġ, Luqa , Mqabba and Tarxien , who all once belonged to the Gudja parish.

The village has a palace called Palazzo Bettina , which is believed to be where Napoleon lived during his brief stay in Malta when Malta was ruled by the French .

The parish church is dedicated to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and it is the only church in Malta with 3 bell towers. The most striking of them is the William Baker Tower, which was built in the 1880s by an English architect of that name.

Inside the church there are some interesting works of art: The painting of the Assumption of Mary was created in 1887 by the Italian painter Pietro Gagliardi. The same painter was busy in 1889 with the portrait "Our Lady of Carmel". Another interesting painting is the "Death of St. Joseph", which was created in 1894 by the Italian artist Domenico Bruschi. The most important statue in the church was carved from wood by the Maltese Vincenzo Dimech in 1807.

Gudja also owns the famous 500 year old chapel of Santa Marija ta 'Bir Miftuħ .

There is also a football club in Gudja, the "Gudja United FC". He was successful in the 1980s when he narrowly missed promotion to the first division.

Sons and daughters

• Carmelo Zammit (* 1949), Roman Catholic clergyman, Bishop of Gibraltar
• Iona Dalli (* 1994), singer
• Raquel Galdes (* 1996), singer

Web links

Commons : Gudja  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Gudja Municipal Council (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ StatDB of the National Statistics Office Malta , accessed on August 1, 2020