THE MEGALITHIC TEMPLE OF HAGAR QIM, QRENDI

The Grandma, Tina, Joseph & Claire in Ħaġar Qim

Today, Tina Picotes, Claire Fontaine, Joseph de Ca'th Lon and The Grandma have visited the Megalithic temples of Hagar Qim near Mnajdra in Qrendi. 

All of them were astonished after their last visit to Mnajdra temples and they have returned to visit another Megalithic complex. Joseph de Ca'th Lon, who is an international expert about History and Anthropology, has explained all the secrets of this temple to the rest of the group.

Ħaġar Qim, in Maltese means Standing/Worshipping Stones, is a megalithic temple complex found on the Mediterranean island of Malta, dating from the Ġgantija phase (3600-3200 BC).  

The Megalithic Temples of Malta are among the most ancient religious sites on Earth, described by the World Heritage Sites committee as unique architectural masterpieces. 

More information: Heritage Malta

In 1992 UNESCO recognized Ħaġar Qim and four other Maltese megalithic structures as World Heritage Sites. V. Gordon Childe, Professor of Prehistoric European Archeology and director of the Institute of Archaeology in the University of London from 1946-1957 visited Ħaġar Qim. He wrote, I have been visiting the prehistoric ruins all round the Mediterranean, from Mesopotamia to Egypt, Greece and Switzerland, but I have nowhere seen a place as old as this one.

Joseph de Ca'th Lon in Ħaġar Qim, Qrendi

Ħaġar Qim's builders used globigerina limestone in the temple's construction. As a result of this, the temple has suffered from severe weathering and surface flaking over the millennia. In 2009 work was completed on a protective tent.

The megalithic complex of Ħaġar Qim is located on the southern edge of the island of Malta, on a ridge capped in soft globigerina limestone. 

All exposed rock on the island was deposited during the Oligocene and Miocene periods of geological time. Globigerina limestone is the second oldest rock on Malta, outcropping over approximately 70% of the area of the islands. The builders used this stone throughout the temple architecture.

More information: UNESCO

The temple’s façade is characterized by a trilithon entrance, outer bench and orthostats. It has a wide forecourt with a retaining wall and a passage runs through the middle of the building, following a modified Maltese megalithic design. A separate entrance gives access to four independent enclosures which replace the north-westerly apse.

Claire Fontaine in Ħaġar Qim Temple, Qrendi

Features of temple architecture reveal possible associations with fertility rituals, including corpulent figurines and statuary, together with solar alignments and a megalith which it has been argued is phallic. 

The presence of an altar with a concave top indicated a possible use for animal sacrifices. It has also been suggested that screened doorways at the heart of the complex point towards possible use by oracles. Excavation also uncovered decorated pottery. The best examples can be seen at The National Museum of Archaeology.

No burials exist in the temple or the area surrounding Ħaġar Qim, nor have any human bones been discovered in Maltese temples. Bones of numerous sacrificial animals have been found. It is theorized that the Ħaġar Qim complex was built in three stages, beginning with the Old Temple northern apses, followed by the New Temple, and finally the completion of the entire structure.

More information: Visit Malta

A few hundred metres from the temple is one of the thirteen watchtowers built by Grand Master Martin de Redin, called Ħamrija Tower. A memorial to General Sir Walter Norris Congreve, Governor of Malta from 1924–1927, is located nearby. The village of Qrendi is a further two kilometres southwest of the temple complex.

The Grandma in Ħaġar Qim Temple, Qrendi

The Ħaġar Qim complex consists of a main temple and three additional megalithic structures beside it. The main temple was built between 3600 and 3200 BC; however, the northern ruins are considerably older. The outside entrance serves as an interior passage and connects six large chambers. The right apse is constructed as an arch to prevent the upright slabs falling inward. 

The outside wall, built of huge upright blocks, projects inwards, thus creating an extremely solid building. This entrance passage and first court follow the Maltese megalithic pattern but as building progressed, this design was considerably modified. The northwesterly apse was replaced by four independent enclosures.

More information: Malta Info Guide

Ħaġar Qim shares its basic architectural design with the Mnajdra, Tarxien and Ġgantija temple complexes. The basic shape includes forecourt and façade, elongated oval chambers, semi-circular recesses and a central passage connecting the chambers. This configuration is commonly termed trefoil. It is also suggested that the shape of the temple in some way mimics the sacred sculptures found within them.

More information: Malta Uncovered

Joseph de Ca'th Lon walking across Ħaġar Qim

The Northern Temple's first recess contains a round stone pillar and a rectangular slab held vertically ahead of the pillar. Resting on the slab are spherical hollows which may have served as holders in which to stand small libation jars. Jars excavated from the site are characterized by a specifically oval base, designed to stand upright when placed in the slab. Remnants of the vertical blocks which once flanked the recess are still observable today. To the right of this chamber is another recess, containing an acoustic opening called the oracle hole. 

More information: Independent

Sound passed from the main chamber into the recess, and vice versa. The hole has also been linked to alignments of the Summer solstice. On the right side of the chamber is a horizontal block that may have served as seating.

The 17th century Maltese historian Giacomo Abela wrote in his 1647 Discrittione di Malta that the ruins of Ħaġar Qim were indubitable evidence of the fact that the first inhabitants of Malta were of the race of Giants.

Seeing the Mediterranean Sea from Ħaġar Qim

Ħaġar Qim was first explored in 1839 at public expense during the Governorship of Sir Henry Bouverie, by J. G. Vance of the Royal Engineers. Within two short months, that officer had made a plan of the buildings and sent to Valletta a stone altar, a decorated slab and seven stone statuettes which are now exhibited in the Valletta Museum. The account of his excavations was published in 1842. In 1885, Dr. A. A. Caruana made further excavations and published a lengthy report with elaborate plans, sections and views, drawn by Dr. Philip Vassallo of the Public Works Department.

More information: Ancient Origins

Further excavations were carried out in 1909 by Sir Themistocles Zammit and Thomas Eric Peet. The British School at Rome directed subsequent excavations to ensure that all ruins in the Ħaġar Qim area had been identified.

Sir Themistocles was part of the Research Council selected by the First International Congress of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Science.

The Venus of Malta

In 1910, the surrounding fields were carefully searched and the ruins themselves accurately surveyed by members of the British School at Rome who repaired some of the damaged structures and made a rich collection of potsherds, flint implements, stone and clay objects, now deposited in the Valletta Museum.

On 17 September 1949, three statuettes and several pieces of a much larger stone statue were discovered buried beneath a rectangular stone. The Venus of Malta, which shares similar characteristics with the Ħaġar Qim statuettes, was discovered on 31 March 1950. It is important to note that the absence of sexual characteristics on the more developed types of Maltese cult-statuettes may imply that the being represented is in fact asexual.

Little has been done to restore the temple with the exception of reinforcing or replacing several stones, including the lintel, in the 1950s. Shelters have been constructed by Ħeritage Malta in an attempt to shield the temples from further erosion. 

More information: Brad Shaw Foundation

Ruins, for me, are the beginning. 

With the debris, you can construct new ideas. 

They are symbols of a beginning. 

Anselm Kiefer