Ħaġar Qim ranked third in the most visited list with over 148,000 admissions.

Ġgantija Temples in Gozo remains the most visited archaeological site administered by Heritage Malta, registering over 186,000 admissions, which equates to over 500 visitors a day.

Visitors to the Unesco World Heritage Site, which dates back to the period between 3600BC and 3200BC, increased by 8,600 visitors in 2015, up five per cent over the previous year.

Heritage Malta data shows that 2015 was a bumper year in terms of revenue, which reached an all-time high of €9.98 million.

The 24 sites administered by Heritage Malta received 1.2 million visitors notwithstanding the fact that some of them, like the War Museum, in Valletta, were closed for refurbishment, while the attractions at the Citadel, in Victoria, were temporary out of bounds to visitors because of ongoing embellishment work.

The total number of visitors included 101,000 free admissions and 29,878 students and accompanying adults.

Last year also coincided with the inauguration of major EU-funded restoration and infrastructural projects, including the protective tent over Tarxien Temples and a new visitor’s centre at St Paul’s Catacombs, in Rabat.

Upper Fort St Elmo, in Valletta, was finally restored to its former glory following a €15 million project, which included the relocation and revamp of the National War Museum.

As for the future, Heritage Malta is striving to tap EU funding for the restoration of Auberge d’Italie, in Valletta, which will eventually host the Fine Arts Museum, and a visitors’ centre at Grand Master’s Palace, also in the capital. The place will be part and parcel of the relocation the Knight’s Armoury to its original hall, which, until last year, was used as the House of Representatives. The project, however, will only materialise after the first half of 2017 as the palace will host major events in connections with Malta’s presidency of the European Union.

Smaller projects in the pipeline include two monuments. One will be installed later this year in front of the Porta del Soccorso at Upper St Elmo and the other will be dedicated to the Maltese people and will be inaugurated next year.

Two works of art by renowned artist Giuseppe Calì and world-famous sculptor Antonio Sciortino, both of which were donated by former Museum Department director Fr Marius Zerafa, were among the new heritage items acquired by the State agency.

The Palace State Rooms were the second most popular Heritage Malta site.

Top 10 HM attractions in 2015

*Closed from January to May and in November.

Source: Heritage Malta