A thousand years before the Great pyramid at Giza was constructed, people on the tiny island of Malta were moving stones weighing up to 50 tonnes, to make the oldest surviving free-standing structures in the world. Decorated with some of the most extraordinary art to be found anywhere in the Mediterranean, they were made by a society intensely engaged in the practice of ritual and ceremonial activities.
We will never know for sure why this extraordinary culture developed, and the only intriguing glimpses we have of the early people are in the well-proportioned figures found as statuettes at some of the temple sites.
It was a valuable prize to be coveted by all the powers through history, and the island became famous as the Headquarters of the Knights Hospitallers of St John.
To understand Malta’s subsequent history you have to see the mighty harbour at Valletta, a safe and secure haven in the middle of the busy shipping lanes of the Mediterranean.
