Gozo - Ggantija Temples

January 23, 2015

Ggantija Temples

The awe-inspiring megalithic compex of Ggantija was erected in three stages over a period of several hundred years (c. 3600-3000 BC) by the community of farmers and herders inhabiting the small and isolated island of Gozo (Malta) at the centre of the Mediterranean.

Ggantija consists of two temple units built side by side enclosed within a single massive boundary wall, and sharing the same façade.  Both temples have a single and central doorway, opening onto a common and spacious forecourt that is in turn raised on a high terrace.  Rituals of life and fertility seem to have been practiced within these precincts, while the sophisticated architectural achievements reveal that something really exceptional was taking place in the Maltese Islands more than five thousand years ago.

The complex stayed in use for about one thousand years, down to the mid-third millennium BC, when the Maltese Temple Culture disappeared abruptly and mysteriously.  Eventually, the successive inhabitants of the Early Bronze Age (2500-1500 BC) adopted the site as a cremation cemetery.

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Gozo Citadel

January 23, 2015

A trip to Gozo is like taking a step back in time.  The little island is quiet and peaceful and basically a rural community.  The only way to access the island is by taking a 30 minute ferry ride from the main island of Malta to the island of Gozo.  It was windy, rainy, and cold.  The ferry had to take an alternate route around the island because the waves were so huge.  Malta is home to many English and Australian retirees and vacationers who go there because of it's warm, temperate climate.  It was a shock to experience the bad weather.  The island was experiencing record breaking cold while we were there.

The Citadel is built on one of the many flat-topped hills in the centre of Gozo. It's origins can be traced to the latter part of the Middle Ages.

Up until 1637 the people of Gozo had to take shelter within the Citadel's walls after sunset, due to the frequent Turkish assaults on the island. In 1551 a strong Turkish force overwhelmed the Citadel and carried 6000 of the inhabitants away into slavery. Only 300 Gozitans managed to escape before the capitulation. The walls themselves date from the 16th to the 18th century.

It is believed that the Gozo Citadel or Cittadella as it’s known locally, has been active in some form or another from the New Stone Age period. However, studies indicate that its first fortification was done at around 1500 BC.