Malta Archeological museum

When we visited Valetta one of the interesting museums you could visit was the archeological museum. The museum is located right at the main street inside old town Valetta so you are bound to pass it if you are visiting the capital of the country.

We decided to go inside and have a look at the museum. The museum is located inside an amazing old building the entrance to the museum is actually an attraction in itself. But we make our way inside the museum proper and start exploring.

The exhibition only covers the ancient history of Malta and there are no remains from the period when the knights ruled the island which could probably have been interesting as well. The old history of Malta date back to the time of the ice age when you could actually walk from nearby Sicily to Malta across a land bridge. When the water started rising the island were cut off from the main land and the dry land available to the now isolated locals were significantly reduced which had some effects on the way they could survive on the small island.

The main focus of the first floor is the ancient temple period. There are a lot of artifacts from the temples we have been visiting around the island so it is good to see some of the things which used to be at the Neolithic locations around the island. There are some reconstructions of the temple sights and there are also a collection of the smaller artefacts found at the temples including the famous female figurines.

The temple tradition disappeared quickly but later it was followed by the new naval power of the Mediterranean. The Phoenicians also made it to the island of Malta and on the second floor of the museum they have an exhibition of this later period of the island.