Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum

This morning, after a relaxing breakfast on the roof of my hotel in Valletta, I took a bus out to the Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum, which is just a short distance away. The Hypogeum, first discovered in 1902 by construction workers digging a cistern, is an underground structure from approximately 3,000 B.C. (You read that correctly – over 5,000 years ago!) It is a collection of underground burial chambers and temples that were carved by hand with only torchlight for guidance by some of the earliest settlers of Malta. Though you might expect from that description that the Hypogeum would be a series of rough caves, it is an impressive collection of smoothly carved rooms and temples carved with perfectly rounded curves and straight edges, with chambers that extend three levels under the Earth's surface and walls that are covered with carvings and paintings.

Unfortunately no photography is allowed in the Hypogeum, but I think you can find some on the internet if you're interested.