The architecture of the Maltese temples

Abstract

The final form a building takes will depend on a number of factors over and above the purpose it is intended to serve, whether for habitation, defence, industry, burial, worship or whatever. These include the constructional materials and manpower available to the builders, their technology and the way they think it ought to look, bluntly, fashion. Nor should we forget its later history, undergoing alterations, additions, or most commonly partial or complete destruction. The temples of Malta as we see them today illustrate all these, and in turn are themselves primary evidence on the skills, religious practices and society of the Maltese in the millennium either side of 3000BC.