Malta's Heritage

 GHAR DALAM Malta’s oldest prehistoric site of Għar Dalam engages visitors to step back in time. Rows of ancient animal bones which were unearthed from Għar Dalam cave are exhibited in a museum which still retains one of a handful Victorian style displays in Europe.  No such animals have lived on the Maltese Islands for thousands of years. The bone remains of small-sized elephants and hippopotami are among the most notable exhibits. More bones of the Ice Age animals are still visible inside the cave.

  TARXIEN TEMPLES Discovered in 1913 by local farmers, the Tarxien Temples’ site was extensively excavated between 1915 and 1919, with a number of minor interventions carried out in the 1920s by Sir Themistocles Zammit , Director of Museums at the time. Inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List , this site consists of a complex of four megalithic structures built between 3600 and 2500 BC, and re-used between 2400 and 1500 BC. The earliest of the four structures, located at the easternmost end of the site and built sometime between 3600 and 3200 BC, survives only to near ground level although its five-apse plan is still clearly visible. The South Temple is the most highly decorated with its relief sculpture and the lower part of a colossal statue of a skirted figure. Remains of cremation found at the centre of the South Temple reveal that the site was re-used as a Bronze Age cremation cemetery, between 2400 and 1500 BC. The East Temple, with its well-cut slab walls and ‘oracle’ holes

  MDINA Mdina , also known by its titles Città Vecchia or Città Notabile, is a fortified city in the Northern Region of Malta which served as the island's capital from antiquity to the medieval period. The city is still confined within its walls, and has a population of just under 300, but it is contiguous with the town of Rabat, which takes its name from the Arabic word for suburb, and has a population of over 11,000.