Church of St Nicholas, Siġġiewi St Nicholas was built between 1675 and 1693. The church was consecrated on May 10, 1729. In 1862 the church was enlarged on the plans of Nikol Zammit. The side aisles, dome and portico were added. Every June the annual feast of Saint Nicholas is celebrated with great solemnity while on December 6 the liturgical feast of the saint is celebrated. The titular painting in the church is by the artist Mattia Preti, 'Il calabrese', who was also responsible for the painting on the vault of St John's Co-Cathedral in Valletta. The wooden statue which is carried in procession in
St Nicholas Cole Abbey shelter or shelter from the cold. The church was never an abbey. The earliest reference to the church is in a letter of Pope Lucius II in 1144-5. St Nicholas of Myra is patron saint of, among other groups, children and fishermen, and the church has special ties with both. An inventory of the church’s possessions taken at the time of the Protestant Reformation includes vestments for children, suggesting that the church maintained the tradition of electing a boy bishop on Saint Nicholas Day. Deeds in the reign of Richard I refer to a new fish market near St. Nicholas