| travels in Malta 2010 - inspirations |
| ancient civilizations - their artwork, symbols, sculpture, and jewellery I've
always been fascinated by history and ancient civilizations and
am especially drawn to their artwork and the symbols they used as
decoration. My ideal holidays are ones, that I can mix having a
rest, with a bit of hiking, exploring and learning. I hadn't realised
that there was so much to see on Malta... it has so much history,
prehistoric art, megalithic temples, roman ruins, medieval towns
and super museums. |
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| Valetta archaeological museum - findings from megalithic temples |
National Museum of Archaeology, Valetta |
| Really
interesting place to visit, as there are many pieces from all the
temples in Malta, together with miniature models showing the temple
layouts and old photographs of the excavations. |
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| megalithic temples - Tarxien temple, layout and spiral decorations |
spirals |
| info on spirals, from the archeological museum; 'By far the most common design in Maltese megalithic art is that of the spiral and its derivatives. The spiral design is an extremely eye-catching creation which still attracts much interest and speculation as to its meaning. Its conspicuous presence in temple decoration, ceramic design and other art work suggests that the image had a significance that was common to the Maltese islands, very much like language. Yet
Maltese spiral decorations are all different in style and character.
Some creations follow perfect spiralling circles. Some are grouped
into a well planned sequence. Others form compositions of opposed
or single spirals. Some spirals are linked in a flowing arrangement.
Other seemingly spiral designs are not spirals at all but derivatives
in the form of 'c' designs and variations. |
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| |
| some megalithic pieces from Malta's temples, these range in size from small figurines to larger than life sculptures, top row Valetta museum and bottom row Gozo museum |
megalithic sculptures and figurines |
| Amazing
to think these pieces are over 5,000 years old and the craftsmanship
and design that went into creating the different figurines, statuettes
and sculptures. The 'fat ladies' are believed to represent fertiility
goddesses. |
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| megalithic jewellery on the left and roman glass bead necklace on the right |
megalithic and roman jewellery |
| As
a jewelley designer and teacher, I'm interested in the history of
jewellery and design of jewellery created and worn by ancient civilizations.
|
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|
| roman mosaics at the roman villa and the st Pauls catacombs in Rabat |
the romans |
| Whilst
doing building work, the Maltese discovered the ruins of a roman
villa. A museum has been built to house and preserve the mosaic
floors. Nearby are the roman catacombs of St Pauls, as the Romans
buried their dead outside their city walls of Mdina. |
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| Hagar Qim and Mnajdra temples are situated next to each other on the Southern coast of Malta |
megalithic temples |
| The
most impressive and well preserved megalithic temples. The Hagar Qim
and Mnajdra temples are in a beautiful coastal location.
The 'fat ladies' and 'venus of Malta' pieces were found at the Hagar
Qim temple and the Mnajdra temple has solar alignments for the summer
/ winter solstice. The temples date to 3,600 - 3,000 BC. |
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| Ggantija temple, Gozo and the Tarxien temple near Valetta |
Malta |
| The
ancient civilizations have left us an intriguing legacy to visit
and wonder about their meanings. |
