An Interim Visitor Centre has been set up at the Ggantija Temples in Gozo to improve the experience of all those who visit this most popular heritage site in the Maltese islands.

The centre, which is situated at the entrance, enhances the rural settings of this unique historical site. It is the first phase of the Visitors’ Centre project and houses a modern ticket booth and facilities that are presently used as an exhibition space for reproductions of early Nineteenth Century watercolours, by Charles Frederick de Brocktorff, depicting the Ggantija Temples and the neighbouring Xaghra Stone Circle. This space will later host the first Museum shop at Heritage Malta sites in Gozo.

The visitor centre, which was inaugurated today, is another step in the realisation of a holistic Ggantija project that involves the conservation and better management of the site together with improved facilities for visitors. The fully-reversible lightweight centre is an interim one that will be replaced by a permanent visitor centre, which will provide added facilities for the site’s visitors. An application for European Union funding has been submitted by Heritage Malta for a new centre that is expected to be in place by 2013.

In the last four years the Ggantija Temples have seen interventions including a 3D study and the generation of a 3D model that forms the basis of all scientific interventions on the site, the restoration of part of its external wall due to stones having collapsed following heavy rainfall, the upgrading of the temples landscape including the construction of more than 500 metres of rubble walls, and other landscaping works such as the removal of bulky waste material that had been dumped in the vicinity of the site over a number of years, and the replacement of alien vegetation with indigenous trees and shrubs that continue to enhance the rural surroundings of this important site.

Current works at the Ggantija Temples include the complete removal of the concrete walls surrounding the temples, which had been constructed in 1957, that are now being replaced by a low-lying feature that enhances the magnificent view of the temples’ back wall immediately upon the entrance to the site, together with the removal of the toilet facilities that are in close proximity of the temples.

Addressing this afternoon’s inauguration, Godwin Vella, Heritage Malta Gozo Area Manager said that the national agency is targeting the setting up of a heritage park at the Ggantija Temples by 2013. The project is an ambitious one that involves not only works on the site but also on nearby grounds to offer an even enhanced experience for visitors to better appreciate all that the Xaghra plateau offers. Funds for this wide and ambitious project are being sought through National Government, the European Union and the Vodafone Malta Foundation.

Dr Mario Tabone, Heritage Malta Chairperson said that the Ggantija project embodies Heritage Malta’s objective in reaching international levels in the conservation and management of its sites, giving particular importance not only to the temples as a structure of exceptional cultural importance but also at the site in its entirety including all aspects that improve the visitors’ experience at this unique heritage site.

Speaking during the inauguration this afternoon, the Hon. Giovanna Debono, Minister for Gozo said that the facilities being utilised as from today provide an added service to improve the visitors’ experience while touring one of Gozo’s main historical sites that is visited annually by more than 160,000 persons. Government, through the collaboration of the Ministry for Gozo and Heritage Malta, is committed towards improving the island’s historical and cultural assets and is not only investing on the Ggantija project but also on a Master Plan for the Gozo Citadel, an upgrading project for the Museum of Archaeology, the provision of state-of-the-art showcases for unique prehistoric artefacts discovered in Gozo, and other restoration works, such as those at the Sannat limestone kiln and the Citadel, that are carried out by the Ministry for Gozo employees.