Set the scene.
This Early Christian site consists of four neighbouring hypogea: underground burial spaces cut into the rock. Surviving decoration includes palms, shells and fish-scale patterns.
Here’s the twist.
In 1647 Giovanni Francesco Abela published a diagram of its main catacomb. His description recorded tombs, a chapel and a hermitage before later disturbance and damage.
Why it still matters.
Try treating that drawing as a time machine. When a place changes, an old plan can preserve evidence that the surviving stone alone no longer explains.
🧠 One to think about +
What does this story change about the way you see Malta today? Pick one detail you’d tell a friend — then check its source below.