The unique prehistoric cemetery of Hal Saflieni Hypogeum in Paola has now been captured on 3D – a project which will help to highlight its causes of deterioration.

We cannot stop the deterioration process but we always strive to give the paintings a new lease of life

The €400,000 project will also be used to aid-visual display of the underground cemetery used by Malta’s prehistoric temple builders from around 4000BC to 2500BC.

It records the site in minute detail down to the very last centimetre. “We hope to be able to put a model online for people to access it,” site curator Joanne Mallia said.

This also means visitors will soon be able to view, if virtually, the bottom-most level of the cemetery which has been closed off to visitors for years. Unique spiral designs in red ochre paint decorate the walls of this chamber and are the only prehistoric wall paintings found on the Maltese islands.

“The project’s environmental monitoring, through scientific equipment, allows us to analyse how the site responds to seasonal changes so we can identify what is needed to best preserve the Hypogeum,” Ms Mallia said.

For now, only a maximum of 80 people are allowed on site every day and visitors have to book weeks in advance. This number might increase depending on what will come out of the research data.

“We cannot stop the deterioration process but we always strive to give the paintings a new lease of life,” she said.

The site, described by Unesco as one “that bears unique testimony to a civilisation which has disappeared”, consists of a series of rock-cut oval chambers set on three different levels. The excavation notes of Fr Edward Magri, who undertook the original excavations in 1902, were lost when he died five years later in Tunisia. However, subsequent archaeological digs by Sir Temi Zammit indicate the site probably could sustain 6,000 burials.

The project was funded by a €324,000 grant from the Norwegian Financial Mechanism and a further €57,329 from national funds. Heritage Malta has now applied for a further €1 million Norwegian grant which would enable the project to move on to a second phase.

“It is our responsibility to safeguard this unique site for the enjoyment of present and future generations, on behalf of the international community,” Tourism Minister Mario de Marco said.