Ggantija Travel Guide

 Diana75 Says:  Across the road to the north, a natural cave was discovered in 1949.It is supposed that the cave was originally a rock-cut tomb, but it might also have served as temple refuse.Inside a great quantity of broken pottery of the Tarxien phase, but also fragments of a human skull... 

 Diana75 Says:  Pottery, vases and statuettes (two carved heads and a snake in relief) found during the 1827 excavations are now displayed in the Gozo Museum of Archaeology. 

 Diana75 Says:  Many of the signs left in the temples suggest that rituals of life and fertility have been practiced here.It is said that the huge stone block which can be seen at the entrance in the southern temple was used for animal purification rituals before entering the temple.The... 

 Diana75 Says:  At the entrance of the southern temple, small, spherical stones, discovered in the temples, are displayed.It is believed that these were used as ball bearings to transport the enormous stone blocks required for the temples' construction. 

 Diana75 Says:  Round holes can be seen both in the walls and in the paving slabs, especially in the southern temple.Those in the paving slabs were made in order to allow liquid offerings to pass through to the underworld. Those in the walls were made in order to hold screens or bars to... 

 Diana75 Says:  In both temples, the inner apses present niches with rudimentary altars.The altars have trilithon form or are solid cubic blocks and originally may have been decorated with relief spirals. 

 Diana75 Says:  As the boundary wall, the temples walls are not less impressive: the largest megaliths are round six by four meters.The internal walls were made of coralline limestone rubble, covered in plaster.The form of the walls suggests that the whole structure was once roofed. 

 Diana75 Says:  Both temples have a single and central doorway.The door opens into the corridor that is connecting the apses and is made of huge blocks of stone 

 Diana75 Says:  The second temple, smaller, was built later and doesn't present as many features as the southern one.The building technique is suggesting that the temple was roofed. 

 Diana75 Says:  The first temple of the two, the southern one, is larger, older and more extensive. Rising at a height of six meters, the five apses of the temple contain also numerous altars, relief carvings and wall holes.Recent calculations have suggested that the south temple would have... 

 Diana75 Says:  The site of the temples is not as rich in souvenirs shops as others in Malta.Some small shops selling lace and other small things can be found at the entrance, while near the ticket office is another small shop selling soft drinks, post cards, books and other small... 

 Diana75 Says:  In Maltese, Ggantija means "belonging to the giants".A local legend is saying that a giant called Sansuna carried the stones to build the temples on her head from a site located far way.And it seems that the work of the giant was so good that the temples survived... 

 Diana75 Says:  Ggantija became the first of the Maltese megalithic temples to be inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List in 1980. 

 Diana75 Says:  The Ggantija site is opened from Monday to Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (last admission 4:30 p.m.).The way from the entrance to the site goes near the North Cave and behind the temples.The ticket office is near the temples.