Saturday we were back on tour, planning to do Valleta, the Three Cities, the Grand Harbor, the National Archaeological Museum, and the Malta At War Museum. I'll do the archaeological museum first, just to keep all the archaeological stuff together. The museum deals with Phoenician, Carthaginian, Greek, and Roman stuff, too, but I'll just focus on the megalithic, the temple builders.
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The archaeological museum is housed in the 1575 Auberge
de Provence, that is, the headquarters of the Knights from
Provence; the Knights were housed according to nationality
and had specific defensive responsibilities also by nationality |
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| Thus |
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Photo pre-exhibit: reminder that we did only the top three or four sites and
have plenty left-over for next time; and surely more will be discovered (don't
call me Shirley) |
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| Ditto |
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On to the main megalithic exhibit; some of the
oldest figurines, c. 4,000 BC |
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| How it's done; and in English too |
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A tiny fist-size model of a temple: note trilithon and especially the slabbed
roofing; the fact that someone carved what is arguably a model of a temple
5,000 years ago is pretty mind-blowing |
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| Altar |
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| Among many examples of fine carving taken from the temples |
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Me standing for scale by one of the corpulent statues;
trying desperately not to look corpulent |
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| Many firgurines |
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| More of the corpulent ones |
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Dorsal view of the "Venus of Malta," showing carving
skill |
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| Pix of many more statues, figurines; they came in all sizes |
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The Three Musketeers; wait, no; the Three Icthophalluses;
still processing this one... |
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| Very abundant neolithic jewelry, personal and ceremonial items |
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| The Sleeping Lady figurine found at the Hypogeum; muy famoso |
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More large scale carving from the temples; they're brought here for protection
from further erosion; often replaced on site by copies |
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| Largest tea cup ever found |
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