What to See in Malta - Top Sights and Attractions

Ancient temple ruins dating from 3200 BC. Ħaġar Qim is a megalithic temple complex found on the Mediterranean island of Malta, dating from the Ġgantija phase. The Megalithic Temples of Malta are among the most ancient religious sites on Earth, described by the World Heritage Sites committee as "unique architectural masterpieces." In 1992 UNESCO recognized Ħaġar Qim and four other Maltese megalithic structures as World Heritage Sites. V. Gordon Childe, Professor of Prehistoric European Archeology and director of the Institute of Archaeology in the University of London from 1946-1957 visited Ħaġar Qim. He wrote, "I have been visiting the prehistoric ruins all round the Mediterranean, from Mesopotamia to Egypt, Greece and Switzerland, but I have nowhere seen a place as old as this one."

Ħaġar Qim's builders used globigerina limestone in the temple's construction. As a result of this, the temple has suffered from severe weathering and surface flaking over the millennia. In 2009 work was completed on a protective tent.^[5]

Palace in St. Julian's, Malta. Spinola Palace, also known as Spinola House and Villa Spinola, is a palace in St. Julian's, Malta. It was built in the 17th century by Fra Paolo Rafel Spinola, a knight of the Order of St. John, and was enlarged in the 18th century. The later construction was designed by Romano Carapecchia, which is considered a masterpiece, with its back having an elegant clock that is a unique feature to secular Baroque architecture in Malta.

The palace was adaptively converted to a military hospital, serving between 1860 and 1922, and was known as the Forrest Hospital. It later served for a number of purposes, including a post-World War II shelter for the homeless, a short-lived Museum of Modern Art and the Ministry for Tourism. From late 2007 till present the building actively hosts the Headquarters of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM).

At the time of its construction a number of ancillary buildings were also built. These consisting of a church, two boathouses, a belvedere and a building serving as stables. They still survive today belonging to different private owners, with the palace belonging to the Maltese government. Originally the building had large extensive gardens, including baroque gardens and wineyards, however these were minimized to an enclosed back garden and a small front public garden.^[9]

Archaeological site in Xagħra, Malta. Ġgantija is a megalithic temple complex from the Neolithic on the Mediterranean island of Gozo in Malta. The Ġgantija temples are the earliest of the Megalithic Temples of Malta and are older than the pyramids of Egypt. Their makers erected the two Ġgantija temples during the Neolithic, which makes these temples more than 5500 years old and the world's second oldest existing manmade religious structures after Göbekli Tepe in present-day Turkey. Together with other similar structures, these have been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Megalithic Temples of Malta.

The temples are elements of a ceremonial site in a fertility rite. Researchers have found that the numerous figurines and statues found on site are associated with that cult. According to local Gozitan folklore, a giantess who ate nothing but broad beans and honey bore a child from a man of the common people. With the child hanging from her shoulder, she built these temples and used them as places of worship.^[11]

Museum in Mdina, Malta. Palazzo Falson, formerly known as Palazzo Cumbo-Navarra, Casa dei Castelletti, and the Norman House, is a medieval townhouse in Mdina, Malta. It was purposely built as a family residence by the Maltese nobility, and it is named after the Falson family. It is presently open to the public as a house-museum with seventeen rooms of historic domestic belongings and a number of antique collections.

The building is believed to have been built in around 1495, probably incorporating parts of a 13th-century building. This makes it the second oldest building in Mdina, after the ground floor of Palazzo Santa Sofia. During the rule of the Order of St. John, the building might have received Philippe Villiers de L'Isle-Adam, the first Grand Master in Malta. The building was further enlarged in the mid-16th century. Its architect is unknown, but the distinctive upper floor windows might be the work of Jacobo Dimeg.

Palazzo Falson was acquired by Olof Frederick Gollcher in the 20th century, and he restored and altered parts of the building. It is now owned by a foundation established by Gollcher, and since 2007 it has been open to the public as the Palazzo Falson Historic House Museum, which is managed by the Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti, a Maltese heritage foundation. It displays permanent collections which originally belonged to Gollcher, and occasionally other temporary exhibits from private collections.

The building was included on the Antiquities List of 1925, it has been a Grade 1 scheduled property since 1992, and is on the list of the National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands.^[13]

Neoclassical church with a famous dome. The Sanctuary Basilica of the Assumption of Our Lady, commonly known as the Rotunda of Mosta or the Mosta Dome, is a Roman Catholic parish church and Minor Basilica in Mosta, Malta, dedicated to the Assumption of Mary. It was built between 1833 and the 1860s to neoclassical designs of Giorgio Grognet de Vassé, on the site of an earlier Renaissance church which had been built in around 1614 to designs of Tommaso Dingli.

The design of the present church is based on the Pantheon in Rome, has the third largest unsupported dome in the world and is Malta's largest and most famous church. The church narrowly avoided destruction during World War II when on 9 April 1942 a German aerial bomb pierced the dome and fell into the church during Mass, but failed to explode. This event was interpreted by the Maltese as a miracle.^[15]

18th-century star fort on the water. Fort Manoel is a star fort on Manoel Island in Gżira, Malta. It was built in the 18th century by the Order of Saint John, during the reign of Grand Master António Manoel de Vilhena, after whom it is named. Fort Manoel is located to the north west of Valletta, and commands Marsamxett Harbour and the anchorage of Sliema Creek. The fort is an example of Baroque architecture, and it was designed with both functionality and aesthetics in mind.

After a brief French occupation which began in 1798, the British military took over the fort in 1800, when it became known as HMS Phoenicia, and it remained in use by them until 1964. The fort was severely damaged in World War II, but it was restored in the early 21st century and it is now in good condition.

Fort Manoel has been on Malta's tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 1998, as part of the Knights' Fortifications around the Harbours of Malta.^[16]

Fortress in Victoria, Malta. The Cittadella, also known as the Castello, is the citadel of Victoria on the island of Gozo, Malta. The area has been inhabited since the Bronze Age, and the site now occupied by the Cittadella is believed to have been the acropolis of the Punic-Roman city of Gaulos or Glauconis Civitas.

During the medieval period, the acropolis was converted into a castle which served as a refuge for Gozo's population. A suburb began to develop outside its walls by the 15th century, and this area now forms the historic core of Victoria. The castle's defences were obsolete by the 16th century, and in 1551 an Ottoman force invaded Gozo and sacked the Cittadella.

A major reconstruction of the southern walls of the Cittadella was undertaken between 1599 and 1622, transforming it into a gunpowder fortress. The northern walls were left intact, and today they still retain a largely medieval form. The new fortifications were criticized in later decades, and plans to demolish the entire citadel were made multiple times in the 17th and 18th centuries, but were never carried out.

The Cittadella briefly saw action during the French invasion and subsequent uprising in 1798; in both cases the fortress surrendered without much of a fight. It remained a military installation until it was decommissioned by the British on 1 April 1868.

The Cittadella contains churches and other historic buildings, including the Cathedral of the Assumption, which was built between 1697 and 1711 on the site of an earlier church. The citadel has been included on Malta's tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 1998.^[17]

Museum in Victoria, Malta. The Gozo Museum of Archaeology is a museum in the Cittadella of Victoria in Gozo, Malta. The museum of was opened in 1960 as the first public museum in Gozo and was known as the Gozo Museum. The museum was redesigned and reopened in 1986 as the Archaeology Museum of Gozo. Today it is known as the Gozo Museum of Archaeology or the National Museum of Archaeology. The museum features archaeological artifacts and relics and displays covering the cultural history of the Island of Gozo from the prehistoric era to the early modern period. Its exhibits include the Maymūnah Stone.

The museum is housed in a 17th-century house which was originally known as Casa Bondi. It was sold to the Government by the Bondi family in 1937. It is a two-storey building with a symmetrical austere façade, with a carved stone balcony above the front door. The building is listed on the National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands.^[18]

Baroque Catholic church with paintings. The Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Paul, commonly known as St Paul's Cathedral or the Mdina Cathedral, is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Mdina, Malta, dedicated to St. Paul the Apostle. The cathedral was founded in the 12th century, and according to tradition it stands on the site of where Roman governor Publius met St. Paul following his shipwreck on Malta. The original cathedral was severely damaged in the 1693 Sicily earthquake, so it was dismantled and rebuilt in the Baroque style to a design of the Maltese architect Lorenzo Gafà between 1696 and 1705. The cathedral is regarded as Gafà's masterpiece.

The cathedral is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Malta, and since the 19th century this function has been shared with St. John's Co-Cathedral in Valletta.^[20]

The Orpheum Theatre is a building situated in Gżira, Malta. It was designed in 1932 by the Maltese architect Harold J. Borg, then still in his early twenties, to the design of Art Nouveau with Spanish features.

The theatre was commissioned by Felix Gerada, a developer who lived between Malta and Detroit (hence the initials FG on the façade) on land he purchased from the Marquis Desain and was built to serve as a movie theatre. The carved relief is said to be the work of sculptor Alfredo Azzopardi, who had already worked on the Balluta buildings as well as on the Msida Parish church. The Orpheum is a Grade 1 scheduled building since 2001 thanks to the presence of a painting of Orpheus on the ceiling, by Raphael Bonnici Calì (1907-2002).

The Orpheum is a near-complete survivor of the large, single-screen cinemas on Malta. Like many of the island’s cinemas, it was flat-floored in the stalls and had a single balcony.^[21]

Museum in Mdina, Malta. The Domus Romana, stylized as the Domvs Romana, is a ruined Roman-era house located on the boundary between Mdina and Rabat, Malta. It was built in the 1st century BC as an aristocratic town house within the Roman city of Melite. In the 11th century, a Muslim cemetery was established on the remains of the domus.

The site was discovered in 1881, and archaeological excavations revealed several well preserved Roman mosaics, statues and other artifacts, as well as a number of tombstones and other remains from the cemetery. Since 1882, the site has been open to the public as a museum, which is currently run by Heritage Malta. It was erroneously called the Roman Villa when rediscovered as it was thought to be outside the city of Melite but on further examinations it was clarified to be within city limits.^[24]

Lagoon in Malta. The Inland Sea, sometimes called Qawra in Maltese and also known as Dwejra, is a lagoon of seawater on the island of Gozo linked to the Mediterranean Sea through an opening formed by a narrow natural arch.

It was probably formed where a geological fault in the limestone had created a sea cave and the roof then collapsed.

On one side there is a gently shelving stony beach with several fishermen's huts. The boats are often pulled up on to the stony beach. The bottom of the lagoon is also mostly pebbles and rocks and is fairly shallow. Exiting through the tunnel towards open sea, the floor drops away in a series of shelves to a depth of up to 35 meters on the outside. Jacques Cousteau said the Inland Sea was among his top ten dives.

On calm days fishing boats, known in Maltese as luzzijiet, can pass through the tunnel. Some of the boats are used to take visitors through the archway and then for a tour of the nearby cliffs and other sites, mainly to the Fungus Rock and to the site of the previous large natural arch in the cliffs called the Azure Window.^[31]

Storied fort with historical exhibits. Fort St. Angelo is a bastioned fort in Birgu, Malta, located at the centre of the Grand Harbour. It was originally built in the medieval period as a castle called the Castrum Maris. It was rebuilt by the Order of Saint John as a bastioned fort called Fort Saint Angelo between the 1530s and the 1560s, and it is best known for its role as the Order's headquarters during the Great Siege of Malta of 1565. A major reconstruction to designs of Carlos de Grunenbergh took place in the 1690s, giving the fort its current appearance.

The fort was garrisoned by the British from 1800 to 1979, at times being classified as a stone frigate known as HMS Egmont or later HMS St Angelo. The fort suffered considerable damage during World War II, but it was later restored. In 1998, the upper part of the fort was handed to the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Fort St. Angelo has been on Malta's tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 1998, as part of the Knights' Fortifications around the Harbours of Malta.^[34]

Tourist attraction in Sannat, Malta. Ta' Ċenċ Cliffs also Sanap Cliffs is a 20 ha linear strip of cliffed coastline at Sannat, on the southern coast of the island of Gozo, Malta, in the Mediterranean Sea. The area consists of garrigue and steep and rugged cliffs, which rise from sea level to a height of 120 m. The cliffs are identified as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International because they support 800–1000 breeding pairs of Cory's shearwaters and 150–300 pairs of yelkouan shearwaters.

Archaeological remains have also been found close to the cliffs. These include Borġ l-Imramma (the remains of an Mġarr phase megalithic temple), two dolmens dating back to the Tarxien Cemetery phase and a number of cart ruts.^[36]

Palace in Attard, Malta. San Anton Palace is a palace in Attard, Malta that currently serves as the official residence of the President of Malta. It was originally built in the early 17th century as a country villa for Antoine de Paule, a knight of the Order of St. John. It was expanded into a palace following de Paule's election as Grand Master in 1623.

The palace was used as a residence by subsequent Grand Masters, being enlarged a number of times in the process. It was the headquarters of the rebel National Assembly during the uprising of 1798–1800, and it later became a residence for the Civil Commissioners, Governors and Governors-General of Malta. It has been the official residence of the President since the office was created in December 1974.

The palace is surrounded by the extensive San Anton Gardens, parts of which have been open to the public since 1882.^[38]

Museum in Birżebbuġa, Malta. Għar Dalam is a 144 metre long phreatic tube and cave, or cul-de-sac, located in the outskirts of Birżebbuġa, Malta. The cave contains the bone remains of animals that were stranded and subsequently became extinct in Malta at the end of the Last Glacial Maximum. It has lent its name to the Għar Dalam phase in Maltese prehistory, and is viewed as one of Malta's most important national monuments. Pottery similar to that found in Stentinello was found at Għar Dalam, but lacking details such as stamp decorations.

Dwarf elephant, hippopotamus, giant swan, deer and bear bone deposits found there are of different ages; the hippopotamuses became extinct about 10,000 years ago, whilst the deer species became extinct much later, about 4000 years ago during the Chalcolithic. It is also here that the earliest evidence of human settlement on Malta, some 7,400 years ago, was discovered.^[44]

Catholic basilica and shrine with a view. The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Blessed Virgin of Ta' Pinu is a Roman Catholic minor basilica and national shrine located some 700 metres from the village of Għarb on the island of Gozo, the sister island of Malta.

Pope Pius XI granted a Pontifical decree of coronation, “Marianum exstat Sanctuarium” towards its venerated Marian image, the Blessed Virgin of Ta' Pinu on 24 May 1935. The Archbishop of Tarsus, Cardinal Alexis Lépicier signed and notarized the decree via the Sacred Congregation of Rites. The coronation of the image took place on 20 June 1935. The basilica is located in open countryside which allows visitors to enjoy beautiful views of the area and is of great national importance to Gozitans everywhere.^[47]

The Megalithic Temples of Malta are several prehistoric temples, some of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites, built during three distinct periods approximately between 3600 BC and 2500 BC on the island country of Malta. They had been claimed as the oldest free-standing structures on Earth until the discovery of Göbekli Tepe. Archaeologists believe that these megalithic complexes are the result of local innovations in a process of cultural evolution. This led to the building of several temples of the Ġgantija phase, culminating in the large Tarxien temple complex, which remained in use until 2500 BC. After this date, the temple-building culture disappeared.

The Ġgantija temples were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980. In 1992, the UNESCO Committee further extended the existing listing to include five other megalithic temple sites. These are Ħaġar Qim (in Qrendi), Mnajdra (in Qrendi), Ta' Ħaġrat Temples (in Mġarr), Skorba Temples (in Żebbiegħ) and Tarxien Temples (in Tarxien). Nowadays, the sites are managed by Heritage Malta, while ownership of the surrounding lands varies from site to site. Apart from these, there are other megalithic temples in Malta which are not included in the UNESCO World Heritage list.^[49]