Mgarr

Mġarr is a farming village in the northwest surrounded by the most productive agricultural land on Malta, and its parish church of the Assumption is known as the Egg Church: it was built between 1905 and 1946 and the villagers raised the money partly by selling eggs and produce, giving the proceeds to the fund. Beneath the square is a network of air raid shelters cut into the rock in the Second World War, now open to visitors.

History

The Ta' Ħaġrat temples here were found in 1917 and excavated between 1923 and 1926 by Sir Temi Zammit. Mġarr became a parish in 1898, and work on the new church began in 1905, relying on voluntary labour and parishioners' sales of farm produce; it was completed in 1946 and consecrated in 1948 (Wikipedia, Mġarr).

The main sights

• The Egg Church - a domed church funded partly by villagers selling eggs and produce.
• The air raid shelters - rock-cut tunnels beneath the village square.
• The farmland - some of the most productive agricultural land on the island.
• The temple sites - Ta' Hagrat in the village and Skorba nearby.

When to go

Year round; the village works in any weather. Strawberry season in spring brings roadside stalls. The festa falls in the summer.

Before you go

The village is workaday and there is not a great deal to see. Shelter opening is limited and often by arrangement. Restaurants here are popular with Maltese at weekends and booking is wise.

Nearby

Ta' Hagrat is in the village, and Gnejna Bay is west.

Key facts