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The
Mnajdra temple on the main island of Malta is the best preserved temple,
and
is
close to a second megalithic temple, the Hagar Qim near the
sea side. As
with all the other temples of Malta,
the most important question is whether this ‘temple’ really
was a place of worship or whether it had some other purpose.
The
architecture is the typical style used for all temples on Malta:
a shape that resembles a
clover-leaf with walls made of separate walls of megalithic slabs
at a
distance of a few metres. The space in between the two walls is filled
with
sand and stone rubble. This created a solid wall which
still stands
after many millennia.
The length to width ratio is roughly 40 to 30 meters
and some of the
megalithic slabs are more than 6
metres long.
It is unclear whether it was ever roofed. The
walls seem unsuited to bearing heavy megalithic roof plates.
This temple was excavated in 1840. The period of building the temple is
placed in the
timeframe 3300
– 2500 BC but the dating has never been
determined scientifically.
There are many
questions. Why is this temple here, on an island, far away from
populated
areas? Or was it not an island at all in those days and was it mainland? Who
quarried and transported the enormous slabs?
More about Mnajdra in the book "Verborgen geheimen van de
mensheid",
and
more in ref. Mayrhofer
and Zammit.
Download
the free e-book at the end of the QUICK TOUR
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