Ġgantija

Ġgantija (Maltese pronunciation: [dʒɡanˈtiːja], "place of giants") is a megalithic temple complex from the Neolithic era (c. 3600–2500 BC), on the Mediterranean island of Gozo in Malta.

Together with other similar structures, these have been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Megalithic Temples of Malta.

According to local Gozitan folklore, a giantess who ate nothing but fava beans and honey bore a child from a man of the common people.

[3] The plan of the temple incorporates five large apses, with traces of the plaster that once covered the irregular wall still clinging between the blocks.

The effort is a remarkable feat considering the monuments were constructed when the wheel had not yet been introduced and no metal tools were available to the Maltese Islanders.

At the entrance sits a large stone block with a recess, which led to the hypothesis that this was a ritual ablution station for purification before worshippers entered the complex.

In the late 18th century, before any excavations were carried out, Jean-Pierre Houël drew a plan based on that knowledge, which has been found to be highly accurate.

In 1992, the Committee decided to expand the listing to include five other megalithic temples located across the islands of Malta and Gozo.

[14] Anthropologist Kathryn Rountree has explored how "Malta’s neolithic temples", including Ġgantija, "have been interpreted, contested and appropriated by different local and foreign interest groups: those working in the tourist industry, intellectuals and Maltese nationalists, hunters, archaeologists, artists, and participants in the global Goddess movement.

Ġgantija as seen from the west
Watercolour painting of the temple ruins by Abraham-Louis-Rodolphe Ducros , 1778
Engraving of the temple made in 1848