Mnajdra Temples

Mnajdra sits on a shelf above the sea a few hundred metres downhill from Ħaġar Qim, three temples built between about 3600 and 2500 BC and connected by a forecourt. The southern one is the reason it is famous: at the equinoxes the rising sun shines straight down its main corridor, and at the solstices it strikes the edges of the megaliths flanking the entrance, which is among the clearest prehistoric solar alignments known anywhere.

Background

The complex lies approximately 497 metres from Ħaġar Qim and covers 0.563 hectares. Its upper temple is the oldest, from the Ġgantija phase (3600-3200 BC), a three-apse plan whose central apse opening is closed off by a low wall. The middle temple dates, as a new build or perhaps a rebuild, to the late Tarxien phase (3150-2500 BC), and its main doorway is a hole cut through a large upright slab of limestone. Vance excavated the site in 1840, one year after Ħaġar Qim was discovered. James Fergusson's plan of 1871 proved inaccurate, so in 1901 Albert Mayr drew the first accurate one, and in 1910 Thomas Ashby collected important archaeological material. A protective tent was completed in 2009.

Source: Wikipedia, "Mnajdra"

Highlights

• The solar alignment - equinox sun down the main axis and solstice light on the flanking stones.
• The three temples - separate structures of different dates sharing a forecourt.
• The coastal shelf - the position above the sea with Filfla island offshore.
• The coralline stone - harder limestone used here, better preserved than at Hagar Qim.

When to go

March to May and September to November are the most comfortable. Equinox and solstice viewings are ticketed separately and sell out immediately. Summer heat is severe.

Things to know

Access is only through Hagar Qim and involves a walk downhill and back up. The fabric shelter covers the temple as at its neighbour. The equinox events are almost impossible to get tickets for.

Nearby

Hagar Qim is uphill, and the Blue Grotto is east.

Key facts