Giorgio Grognet de Vassé designed the church, with no formal architectural training, and was advised by an architect of the Sammut family. Bishop Francesco Saverio Caruana opposed the design, but it was approved anyway. Construction began on May 30, 1833, and the new church was built around the old one, which stayed in use until its demolition in 1860. It was completed in the early 1860s and dedicated on October 15, 1871.
The neoclassical design is based on the Pantheon in Rome. The limestone building is 246 feet (75 m) long and has a dome with an internal diameter of 130 feet (40 m). A portico of six Ionic columns stands between two bell towers.
The article says a German bomb pierced the dome during Mass in 1942 without exploding, a claim it marks as uncited. It became a minor basilica in 2018.
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