Stop 06 of 12
Mnajdra: the South Temple
A calendar in stone that still keeps time
Keep going
Stop one of Ħaġar Qim & Mnajdra plays straight away. The other 11 are one payment:
- Every stop from here to Wied iż-Żurrieq, narrated
- The map following you from stop to stop, hands free
- The whole tour saved to your phone — no signal, no roaming
Not sure yet? Start with The Visitor Centre & the Ridge.
The written guide below is open either way.
Guide to Mnajdra: the South Temple
The lowest of Mnajdra’s three temples is the best preserved on the islands, built of hard lower coralline limestone with walls near their full height. It faces almost exactly east: at the equinoxes the rising sun shines straight down its axis, and at the solstices the beam strikes the flanking slabs of the inner doorway, one at midsummer and the other at midwinter.
The alignment
At dawn on the spring and autumn equinoxes the sun rises in line with the main doorway and its first light runs down the corridor to the stone at the far end. At midsummer the beam swings to catch the edge of the great slab left of the inner doorway, and at midwinter the one to the right. The precision has been measured; the intent is not in doubt. What the builders did with the knowledge is not recorded.
A building of thresholds
The walls are decorated with bands of small drilled holes, thousands of them, and the doorways are cut with a care the soft stone of Ħaġar Qim could not hold. Behind the main chambers are small rooms reached through holes in the wall and screened by slabs. This was not an open hall; most people never passed the first threshold.
What to look at
- The main doorway and the straight sightline through to the back wall
- The two great slabs flanking the inner doorway, the solstice markers
- Bands of drilled pits across the wall stones
Practical
- Alignments
- Heritage Malta opens the site at dawn on the equinoxes and solstices by separate ticket; book well ahead.
- Terrain
- Uneven original floors inside; the tent gives shade.
Walk to stop 07 · Mnajdra: the Upper Temples
Walk up the slope inside the shelter, past the middle temple, to the path on the upper side where all three temples are in view.
About 6 min · 338 m