Temple in the Town and other Tarxien Prehistoric Temples, Malta Things to Do Tips

Although Tarxien is the largest of the prehistoric remains they do not have such a scenic setting as the others on Malta and Gozo - in fact if Xemx (Anne) had not kindly taken us here I doubt if I would have known what lay behind the door of this building in the town centre of Tarxien!

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These old temples ruins, the most complex of all temples in Malta. were accidentally discovered in 1914 by some farmers whilst they were ploughing their fields. The series of 4 temples linked by a square court date from 3150 to 2500 BC. There is more to see here than the other temples but the setting is surreal and nowhere near as scenic but less windy!

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It only cost 1 maltese lira to visit the site - it doesn't take too much time and there are useful information boards around giving details of what to see - for example explaining how these stone rollers left outside the south temple were probably used for transporting the megaliths during the temple construction.

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The best-known statue at Tarxien is an oversize partial torso which may represent a mother goddess of fertility - note that this is just a preserved copy though, to see the original and other finds from the temples you should visit the Archaeological Museum in Valletta.

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The temples are also renowned for the detail of their carvings, such as the spiral patterns we had seen seen at other sites earlier this day. Enlarge this pic and you will see such detail.

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One of the chambers of the temple complex is frenowned for its reliefs of two bulls and a sow. We nearly missed these until Anne pointed us in the right direction - although you have to look hard to see them in relief - can you see them?

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This stone bowl can be seen in the central Temple and was carved from a single piece of stone. It is believed that the temples were used extensively for rituals, which probably involved animal sacrifice - hence the animal carvings seen.

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Evidence of burning (note the orange tinged stone walls) indicate possibe ritual cremations took place in these chambers. The site was also reused by later Bronze Age settlers (2400-1500 BC).

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Just a few streets away fom the Tarxien complex in Paola is the vast undereground carved temple with catacombs known as the Hypogeum. This top attraction is usually booked up days and weeks in advance as only small groups (10 people max) at a time are taken on the 45 minuted guided tour.
The day we were here even in low season it was booked up for the next two days - besides which we had already seen 3 temple sites by now and plus photography is not allowed. Anne made reservations for a visit here for the following week so hopefully she can tell us more about it.

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Phone: 21805019 / 21825579