This chapel is dedicated to the Immaculate Conception ( in Maltese ‘il-Kuncizzjoni’) and the area takes the same name. It is 10.00am approx. and the 3 old people are having a short lunch break, sitting on a bench at the foot of the chapel parvis. The Chapel itself was built in 1736 by order of Grand Master Manoel de Vilhena on land belonging to the Paola Foundation, a foundation established by Grand Master de Paule (who had preceeded him by a century) and which owned a lot of land. Rents collected by the Foundation were used for the building of the Order’s galleons. A marble plaque on the archway next to the chapel shows the Coat of Arms of Grand Master de Paule and the inscription ‘Fondazzjoni Paola 1736’. When the Order was forced to leave the Island on the arrival of the French under Napoleon, the chapel became the property of the government as it is up to this day. On the chapel façade are 3 Coats of Arms carved in stone – one is that of Grand Master Manoel de Vilhena. The Order’s eight-pointed cross crowns the façade.
As one enters through the archway one finds a small hamlet of a few farmers who either live permanently in the place or live at Rabat, a town a few kilometres away.
