Historic Sites in Malta: Explore Megalithic Temples, Harbour Forts and Palaces

Explore historic sites in Malta, including megalithic temples, Roman mosaic floors, rock-cut catacombs, harbour forts and palace courtyards. Religious buildings, residences and fortifications account for much of the collection. The examples below include prehistoric stone chambers, a Roman house at Mdina, burial spaces in Rabat and the buildings of the Order of Saint John around the harbours.

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Megalithic temples

The Megalithic Temples of Malta encompass complexes built chiefly during the fourth and third millennia BC. Their entrances commonly use two upright stones supporting a heavy lintel. Beyond them, paved passages lead into pairs of curved chambers, with larger complexes extending through additional doorways into further rooms.

At Tarxien, one temple has six apses, or curved chambers, arranged along its central route. Across the group, harder limestone was commonly used for exterior walls and softer stone for internal features and carving. Reliefs include spirals, plants and animals. The walls and doorways preserve substantial parts of these buildings, although no temple retains its complete roof and the original roofing systems remain uncertain.

Roman houses and mosaic floors

The Domvs Romana preserves decorated floors from an aristocratic house in Roman Melite. Its rooms were organised around a colonnaded court, whose mosaic includes birds perched on a bowl and a geometric border creating an illusion of depth. Smaller tesserae, the pieces forming the mosaic, were used for the detailed central image, with larger pieces around it. The columns have been renewed, but much of the mosaic flooring survives from the house itself.

Catacombs and burial chambers

In Rabat, St Paul’s Catacombs contain interconnected passages and tombs cut beneath the former outskirts of Melite. Some tombs take the form of canopies with four arches supported by pillars. Two entrance halls contain circular rock-cut tables on low platforms, probably used for meals commemorating the dead. These features preserve both the burial arrangements and spaces for the families who returned to them.

Harbour forts and gun batteries

Fort St Angelo occupies a promontory at Birgu in the Grand Harbour. The Order of Saint John adapted an earlier medieval castle, adding bastions, elevated gun positions and batteries near the water. Later rebuilding created several batteries facing the harbour entrance, followed by further changes under British rule. Within the upper fort, residential buildings and chapels survive alongside the successive defensive works.

Fort Manoel has a more regular plan: a square enclosure with a bastion at each corner. Additional works protected the entrance and landward approach, while barracks and an armoury surrounded the interior piazza. Its chapel was reconstructed after wartime destruction. The distinction between the two forts lies partly in their development: St Angelo grew around an older castle, while Manoel was laid out as a planned artillery fort.

Palaces and administrative buildings

The Grandmaster’s Palace occupies an entire block in Valletta. Built as the residence and administrative headquarters of the Order’s Grand Masters, it has a relatively restrained limestone exterior, later embellished with ornate entrance portals and long enclosed timber balconies.

Inside, two courtyards organise the complex. Arcades line Neptune’s Courtyard, where a bronze statue was relocated from an earlier position in the city. Prince Alfred’s Courtyard contains an eighteenth-century clock tower with dials for time and calendar information. The courtyards were originally a single stepped space before a later wing divided them, leaving a visible record of the palace’s enlargement.

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