What happened on... May 18
25 years ago - The Times
Wednesday, May 18, 1994
Malta’s Neolithic temples in ‘perilous state’ ‒ study
The façade of one of Ġgantija’s neolithic temples in Gozo is in a state of near collapse, the government has been warned. The left wall of the nearly 6,000-year-old south temple is crumbling and an Italo-Maltese technical team has called for urgent action following an eight-year study of Malta’s neolithic temple complexes.
Last month, part of a wall at Mnajdra neolithic temples collapsed. Considerable damage was caused. And if the investigating team’s worst fears come true the next to fall will be the six-metre-high Ġgantija megalithic wall which marks the Xagħra skyline in Gozo.
In an extensive report presented to Culture Minister Michael Refalo yesterday, the team recommended that the dangerous wall should be propped up. It is estimated that the repair work would cost some Lm200,000. All Malta’s neolithic temples are in a perilous state, the minister was told. The news has prompted him to “sound the alarm” and appeal for foreign technical and financial aid to save the temples.
Stone conservation scientist Joanne Cassar said salt was a major contributor to the erosion of the...