Heritage Malta is offering limited places at Mnajdra Temples for visitors wishing to experience the winter solstice on December 21.

At the Mnajdra Temples, one of the Neolithic temples built during the 4th and 3rd millennia BC, the South Temple was constructed to mark the position of the rising sun on the first day of each season. Visitors at Mnajdra will marvel at sunrise as the sun’s rays light up the very edge of a megalith found along the passage connecting the first pair of chambers to the inner chambers. Considering that the people who built the temples were farmers and their livelihood depended on agriculture, the changing seasons probably had a special significance. It therefore cannot be excluded that the winter solstice was a time for gatherings and celebrations, Heritage Malta said. 

Interested visitors can purchase their tickets from all Heritage Malta museums and sites or online from Heritage Malta’s website http://shop.heritagemalta.org/ for €25 per person and €15 for Heritage Malta members. Participants will meet at the Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra Visitor Centre at 5.45am.

Afterwards there will be a tour of the Visitor Centre and refreshments.

For further information about this event and other Heritage Malta’s news and activities visit the agency’s website, www.heritagemalta.org, or the Facebook page.