Hagar Qim Temple

The 5,000-year-old Hagar Qim ("HA-jar eem") temple is the best-preserved of several ancient limestone temples in Malta. Hagar Qim is located about 2km from the village of Qrendi in southern Malta and just a short walk from the Mnajdra temples.

Hagar Qim is thought to date from the "Ggantija phase," which is about 3600 to 3200 BC. Unlike most other Maltese temples, it is a single temple rather than a complex of two or three.

The temple is laid out on a clover-leaf shape and consists of four or five apses, with a forecourt and facade. This design is typical of Neolithic temples across Malta.

One noteworthy characteristic of Hagar Qim are its larger orthostats (upright stones) at the corners, which are notched to take the second of horizontal courses above.

The interior of the temple is more closed off than in other Maltese temples and the view of it seems to have been limited to porthole slabs. A stone decorated with spiral designs and a free-standing altar decorated on all sides were found here.

The right apse has an interesting inner enclosure made of low stone slabs. The left apse has three high table altars and a low-standing pillar at the end. Three steps up from the left apse lead to an additional chamber.

In the outer enclosing wall, note the first upright stone (orthostat) behind the right-hand corner of the façade—this is one of the largestof any temple, at 6.4m long and close to 20 tons in weight. Other related ruins have been uncovered near the main temple, and two "fat lady" statues discovered here are now in display in the national museum in Valetta.