Category: Villages
Hits: 5147

Ghasri is Gozo's smallest parish and village, until 1921 it formed part of Zebbug.  The village church was designed by a local priest, Dun Guzepp Diacono and was built early in the twentieth century.  The foundation stone was laid on 6th September 1903 and it was dedicated to the Corpus Christi (Body of Christ) on 9th January 1916 to Christ the Saviour.  The parish church was established on 16th December 1921 by Bishop Giovanni Marija Camilleri.

The name Ghasri is likely to have evolved from one of the usages of the verb ghasar (to press).  Indeed,  the emblem of Ghasri consists of three olive trees and three olive presses.

'Ex Labore Fructus'
'Fruitful Through Fatigue'
'Frott Il-Gharaq'

Ghasri is reached by taking the right fork on the Rabat-Gharb road.  It is dominated by a lighthouse known as Ta' Gordan, which stands at an altitude of 180 metres, and was the first ever to be built on Gozo.  In its first year, this was just a small beacon, but it served its purpose of guiding ships that frequented the area inlets.  In 1857 a new 21 metre lighthouse was built and this was powered by 23 gasoline lamps which remained in place until 1963.  An electric device now supplies the lamp so that its beacon can be seen over a radius of 50 kilometres.