LOCAL
WORDS MATTHEW CAMILLERI (TOUR GUIDE AT COLOUR MY TRAVEL)
O F F T H E B E A T E N T R A C K M I S R A Ħ G Ħ A R I L- K B I R
IN THE AREA OF THE FAMOUS DINGLI CLIFFS - KNOWN FOR PANORAMIC VIEWS - AND THE POPULAR NEARBY BUSKETT GARDENS, LIES ANOTHER LESS KNOWN, AND SOMEWHAT MYSTERIOUS SITE: MISRAĦ GĦAR IL-KBIR. WHILE THE WORD ‘MISRAĦ’ MEANS ‘SQUARE’ IN MALTESE AND REFERS IN THIS CASE TO THIS NATURAL OPEN SPACE IN THE COUNTRYSIDE, ‘GĦAR IL-KBIR’ MEANS ‘THE BIG CAVE’. YET, THIS INTRIGUING CAVE COMPLEX, THAT WAS INHABITED BY LOCALS FOR MANY CENTURIES, IS JUST ONE ELEMENT OF THIS VERY UNUSUAL SITE. GĦAR IL-KBIR
Troglodytism in Malta was first mentioned
life, with the caves being practical rather
The Għar il-Kbir caves were inhabited
by the French knight Jean Quintin
than fashionable. Different areas were
from prehistoric times up until the early
d’Autun in his report of 1536, but the
partitioned by dry-stone walls, while
19th century. The use of natural caves
first reference to Għar il-Kbir comes
the cave ceiling had openings for light
as dwellings was prevalent throughout
from the Maltese archaeologist Giovanni
and ventilation.
the Mediterranean, as such underground
Francesco Abela, who in 1647 stated that
spaces provided cool locations for living
the complex was inhabited by 27 families.
It was only in 1835 that the occupants
spaces in the region’s typically warm
Some of the most vivid descriptions of
were evicted by the authorities, with
climate. In Malta, it was no different.
how these people lived come from the
British troops even blowing up the cave
Indeed, the Għar il-Kbir complex is one
works of the German scholar Athanasius
entrances, to ensure that their previous
of various that have been identified by
Kircher, who had visited the community
inhabitants would not return, but parts
local archaeologists.
a few years before. Theirs was a simple
of the cave can still be accessed today.
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