Hagar Qim and Mnajdra Ancient Temples (Part 1)

After visiting the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum we drove out to the southwest coast of Malta to look at the Hagar Qim and Mnajdra ancient temples which are also from the same era. Both are UNESCO World Heritage sites. The 2 temples are very close together and the visitors centre looks after both of them. We were going to watch a presentation about the temples first to orientate ourselves but a huge coach party were just ahead of us and so we decided to look at the temples first and then come back for the multi-media experience .

Hagar Qim Temple   

Model of the Hagar Qim ruins   

The Hagar Quim temple stands on a hilltop overlooking the sea. It was first excavated in 1839 and the discoveries suggest it was constructed between 3600 – 3200 BC. The site has a central building and the remains of at least two more structures.

Some of the external walls are made up of large megaliths. They are really big, some as high as 5.2m. The largest is estimated to have weighed close to 20 tonnes when it was installed and, despite erosion over time, it probably weighs not much less than that now.

The building itself is made up of a series of C-shaped rooms, known as apses. These were found to be much more screened off (with rock walls) than in other temples of the same period. During the excavations, in one of these apses a slab with a carved opposing spiral decoration and a pillar decorated horizontal carved stripes and small drill holes were found. The pictures above show replicas in place in the temple. The originals are now in (we think) the Museum of Archaeology in Valletta.

Another of the apses has a curious setting of low stone slabs forming an inner enclosure (pictured above L). At the rear of this apse is a small elliptical hole and at dawn on the Summer Solstice, the light from the rising sun passes through this hole and illuminates one of the low slabs.

The four horizontal courses at the top of the walls in this area are perhaps the best indication of what the building’s roof would have looked like. The artist’s reconstruction (above R) is reminiscent of the carved ceiling we had seen underground in the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum.

Malta