Malta · Series: Prehistoric Sites, Ħaġar Qim

Issue date31 May 2017

Total mintage405,000

EU maximum405,000

Editions3

Edge lettering2 ✠✠ × 6, alternately upright/inverted

InscriptionĦAĠAR QIM / TEMPLES / 3600-3200 BC / MALTA / 2017 / NGB

DesignerNoel Galea Bason

mintMonnaie de Paris, Pessac

Issue occasion

The commemorative coin honours the prehistoric Maltese temples of Ħaġar Qim, which are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. The design depicts the temple complex as well as the inscriptions “ĦAĠAR QIM”, “TEMPLES” and the date “3600–3200 BC”. The initials of the artist Noel Galea Bason, “NGB”, are also depicted.

The design

The inner part of the coin depicts the prehistoric temples of Hagar Qim. At the upper right, the inscriptions “ĦAĠAR QIM”, “TEMPLES” and the years “3600-3200 BC” are arranged one below the other. At the lower left are the name of the issuing country “MALTA” and, below it, the year of issue “2017”. At the lower right, the initials “NGB” of the artist Noel Galea Bason are shown.

The outer ring of the coin depicts the twelve stars of the European flag.

Background on the topic

Ħaġar Qim is situated on a hilltop on Malta’s southern coast, not far from the temple complex of Mnajdra. From there, the view extends across the sea to the small island of Filfla. The complex was built during the Maltese Neolithic. At that time, farming communities lived on the archipelago; they cultivated crops and kept livestock, produced pottery, and did not yet use writing. Consequently, neither the names of the builders nor their religious beliefs have been passed down.

The buildings are referred to as “temples” because of their floor plans and the cult objects found there. Their precise function, however, has not been conclusively established. Ħaġar Qim consists of a main building and further structural remains. Large limestone blocks form a monumental outer wall; entrances led into interior spaces with semicircular chambers. Some blocks weigh several tonnes. Hard coralline limestone was used predominantly for load-bearing exterior parts, while the more easily worked globigerina limestone was suitable for interior spaces and decorated architectural elements.

Finds include altars, decorated stone slabs, and human figures. Some representations show strongly pronounced body forms. They were often interpreted in the past as fertility goddesses, but the gender and function of many figures cannot be determined with certainty. The portable finds are now mostly kept at the National Museum of Archaeology in Valletta.

The Maltese megalithic structures are among the earliest known free-standing monumental buildings made of stone. The so-called temple culture ended in the 3rd millennium BC; its causes are not known with certainty. Later inhabitants of Malta used different building and burial traditions.

The coin issue was not linked to a single historical anniversary. It formed part of a multi-year Maltese coin series on prehistoric sites of the archipelago. Following Ġgantija, Ħaġar Qim was the second subject in this series, which successively presented several archaeological sites in Malta.