The Hypogeum is tucked away on a fairly unremarkable street in the suburbs of Valletta. From the outside it looks just like another house, however what lies below is very impressive and reputed to be the only subterranean prehistoric temple ever discovered.

The Hypogeum is set out over three levels, the oldest being the top level. The second level is the most interesting with many chambers. Some of the ceilings are decorated with red ochre designs; there are many other rooms with lovely details and even marks on the walls showing how the caves were dug out, similar to the Flint mines at Spiennes. The Holy of Holies is the most famous part of the whole complex, and is very impressive; the architectural details are carved into the living rock, and give the only indication of what the ceilings of the many temples of Malta. It was on this level that the famous statue of the Sleeping Lady was found.

I found out later that there are several mysteries associated with the Hypogeum, one of them regards the finding of a secret chamber with a ‘bottomless’ pit sounding eerily like Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves.

As stated above entrance is very restricted, only 80 people a day can get in, and when we visited there were no tickets available for the next 10 days. A few people were waiting for last minute cancellations, however they were not having any luck from the looks of it.

I enjoyed my visit, and the introductory video was a great start to exploring the Megalithic sites in Malta and is such a unique and important site that there is no questioning of its place on the World Heritage list.