Glimpses of a mysterious past

Linda C. Eneix, President of the Old Temples Studies Foundation, will be making a presentation on 'Malta's Temples of Stone Age Genius' at the Smithsonian Institute on July 12, 2005. In this article for The Cultured Traveler about the Maltese Temples, Ms Eneix writes that "for a traveler with an interest in ancient and exotic places, their magic is singular. There is nothing like them anywhere else on earth." From the Cultured Traveler:

Malta had one traffic light in 1990 when I had my first encounter with the megalithic temples. I was a well-traveled visitor with a lot of curiosity about the "glimpses of a mysterious past" advertised in the tourist brochure. I expected to see stumpy foundations in an excavation trench. Not so! In those days they didn't tell you that they were writing about the oldest free-standing buildings on earth.

One of my first impressions was the surprise of walking inside walls still enclosing space. (Some of the temple walls soar more than 20 feet – six meters – overhead!) If I hadn't recognized the authenticity of the ancient stone, I would have thought this whole scenario was built to snag the tourists. My guide began to talk about fertility cults, and my eyes got even wider. We came upon the bottom half of a sculpture, the remains of what must once have been an eight-foot woman. My hands went to my face in astonishment that there could be such a thing in the world as this, and that the tourism industry of America didn't know anything about it. That situation has changed since then as the world discovers these fantastic constructions. UNESCO has inscribed them to the list of World Heritage Sites and The World Monuments Fund is trying to help protect them.

I enter the temples now like a little child, humbled and awed by the achievements of the remarkable people who made them. The more I learn, the more I want to know. Were the ancient people of Malta the ancestors of later people we know a little better? How are the early cultures related? Did the use of large stones for monumental expression evolve from a common source?...

Malta is a little island. Many people are not even sure where it is, much less why they would want to go there. Yet, participants in structured guided programs like Elderhostel say that they need every day of a two-week program to cover it all. Without doubt, one of the highlights of their visit is the experience of the temples. They are universally amazed to make the personal discovery of these megalithic wonders. Because, for a traveler with an interest in ancient and exotic places, their magic is singular. There is nothing like them anywhere else on earth.