[Click map to view location details]The list of Malta’s heritage sites is dominated by the Islands’ prehistoric megalithic temples and underground chambers. They are both fascinating and perplexing for there are no definite answers to how and why they were built or for what they were used. We can only offer theories.

What is certain, is that several thousand years before the arrival of the Phoenicians, the Islands were the home to a remarkable culture. These people acquired the skills, and had the strength of spiritual devotion, to mobilise men and resources to build megalithic structures and hew out living rock into burial chambers. This culture was to vanish from the Islands whether through famine, fire, natural disaster or routed by invasion no one knows.

Such is the fascination with Malta’s prehistory that several finds have entered the nation’s psyche. Artefacts such as ‘The Sleeping Lady’, a clay figurine of exquisite craftsmanship found at the Hypogeum and now on display at the National Museum of Archaeology; and the temple altar slabs with their distinctive spirals, are constant themes of artists working on the Islands today.

Malta’s temples and the Hypogeum are designated UNESCO World Heritage sites. At Heritage Malta, we face major challenges in ensuring their conservation and sensitive interpretation for today’s visitors and those of future generations.

The Islands are also home to important sites from the Bronze Age and Phoenician and Roman periods. At Skorba, there is evidence of settlement earlier than the temple-building period, while St Paul’s Catacombs represent the earliest archaeological evidence of Christianity in Malta. The Domvs Romana has mosaics which rank among the finest and oldest compositions in the western Mediterranean, and are on a par with those of Pompeii and Sicily. San Pawl Milqi is the site of a large Roman agricultural villa which provides evidence of the Islands’ thriving olive oil trade in classical times.

Archaeology aside, we also boast sites from later years which are none the less fascinating. The Inquisitors’ Palace is a rare glimpse into the work of this Papal official. Its fine audience chambers are as magnificent as its prisons are austere. The Old Prison in Gozo bears witness to the lives of ordinary people in the graffiti of ships and handprints etched on its walls.

All these sites are to enjoy on many levels. There is plenty for the specialist, but they resonate as much with the casual visitor since they prompt so many questions about our lives, yet leave so much unanswered.