Free Republic

The real prehistoric religion of Malta by NOEL GRIMA Forget the goddess theory, which you hear every tourist guide trying to explain the huge statues at the National Museum of Archaeology or while touring Hagar Qim. That may not have been the original religion of Malta. This was the startling starting point in a lecture “Ritual, Space and Structure in Prehistoric Malta and Gozo: New Observations on Old Matters”, given by Dr Caroline Malone, co-director, Xaghra Stone Circle excavation during the recent Heritage Malta international conference held at the Grand Hotel in Gozo. Dr Malone is senior tutor at Hughes...

5,600 years ago, patient Stone Age laborers gouged emptiness from solid living rock, fashioning a complex three-level interior that contains astounding textural detail. Covering a total of about 5,400 square feet, with its levels extending down about 35 feet, the Hypogeum was discovered by accident in 1902 near the center of the town of Paola... For about a 1,000-year span, the Hypogeum served as a necropolis, a city of the dead that eventually housed the remains of about 7,000 people. It was one of many megalithic structures strewn across Malta, built by a complex Neolithic culture that mysteriously disappeared around...

The Ggantija Temples are the most popular heritage site in Malta, and a lot of work has gone into restoring their structural integrity... The new project incorporates two new lightweight walkways which will now take visitors straight into the heart of the temples. The project also includes an interactive digital and virtual tour of Ggantija. The Temples have also been decked out with an environmental monitoring station which measures exposure to environmental elements and the site has been made safer with the installation of a remote security system... Thanks to the construction of two walkways inside Ggantija, visitors will have...