Europe’s Oldest Civilization: Malta’s Temple-Builders

Copyright 2009 Mr Mark Miceli-Farrugia - All Rights Reserved

by Mr Mark Miceli-Farrugia, Malta’s Ambassador to the United States of America, assisted by Heritage Malta, the Neolithia Foundation, and photographer Mr Daniel Cilia
 

How were these Structures decorated?

Stonework within the temples is finely decorated with low-relief sculptures of animals or fish, spiral or volute motifs, and often colossal female statues. One can best appreciate the sophistication of these builders at the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum, a complex underground temple, hewn 3-storeys deep into the rock over three different periods: 3600 - 3300 BCE; 3300 - 3000 BCE; and 3150 - 2500 BCE. The walls of some of the Hypogeum’s chambers have been painted with elaborate, red ochre designs: spirals, blobs (filled circles) or chequer-boards. Other chambers were carefully sculpted to recreate life-size imitations of built interiors of above-ground megalithic buildings. Roofs are therefore carved to simulate corbelled masonry with a series of stone-rings overhanging each other until they span the entire chamber.