Qrendi
Qrendi is a village in the Western Region of Malta, with a population of 3,148 people as of October 2021. It is located close to Mqabba, Żurrieq and Siġġiewi. Within its boundaries are the two Neolithic temples of Mnajdra and Ħaġar Qim.
Two annual feasts are held in Qrendi: the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes is celebrated either on the last Sunday of June or the first Sunday of July, and the Feast of the Ascension of Our Lady on 15 August.
Although the majority of the village's old core buildings remain today, Qrendi has changed considerably in recent times. A bypass road has been built to divert through-traffic away from the village, modern suburb developments have been built and an open space with a bus terminus created in front of the Parish Church by removing the walled grounds from an old villa.
History
Fossilized remains of animals dating back to the Quaternary Period have been found in the environs of Qrendi. The remains were found in caves and coastal deposits within the Magħlaq Fault or Wied tal-Magħlaq. The caves came to light in 1858, when the area began to be quarried for its hard coralline rock which was used to build the docks in the Grand Harbour.Studies were then taken up by Commander Thomas Abel Brimage Spratt in 1861, who excavated a site known as Ħalq is-Siġar at Magħlaq and confirmed the presence of a variety of fossilised animal remains, including an abundance of hippopotami bones, evidence of dwarf elephants, giant dormice, weasels, owls, bats and birds, besides many other snail fossils. The discovery further yielded complete skeletons of elephants and a large number of bones pertaining to sea birds.
In around 3600 BC, the temples of Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra, which are among the oldest freestanding structures in the world, were built in what is now the outskirts of Qrendi. Other ancient sites such as tombs and dolmens have also been found in the limits of Qrendi.
The first known documentation of Qrendi is in the militia list of 1417, when it was a small village of 26 households. During Hospitaller rule, various towers were built in or around Qrendi, while some knights built summer residences in the area. Qrendi became an independent parish in 1618.
In the 19th century, while Malta was a British protectorate, Qrendi was ruled by a magistrate who was known as Luogotenente, and a garden was built in Qrendi for his personal use.
During World War II, a small airstrip known as RAF Krendi was built roughly halfway between the village and Siġġiewi. The airstrip consisted of two tarmac runways, and it saw use during the Allied Invasion of Sicily in 1943. The airstrip closed with the end of the war, and the runways have been converted into roads. A number of Qrendin civilians were killed during the war, and a memorial in their honour was inaugurated in 1995.
The Qrendi Local Council was established by the Local Councils Act of 1993.
Geography
il-Maqluba
il-Maqluba is a large sinkhole or doline that formed suddenly in 1343, that is associated with local creations legends.Wied Magħlaq
One of the more well known valleys in Qrendi is Wied Magħlaq. It is about from the village and the same distance from the other valley within the locality of Qrendi, that is Wied iż-Żurrieq.Wied iż-Żurrieq
The Wied iż-Żurrieq area is an important fishing hamlet in the region. Due to the environment and setting of this site, it has for a long time been a popular tourist and visitor attraction.The Wied iz-Żurrieq valley begins as Wied Ħoxt which can be accessed from the panoramic road that runs from il-Ħnejja or Blue Grotto to the temples of Ħaġar Qim and descends towards the sea ending in the Wied iż-Żurrieq mouth. The valley had been cut through time in the lower coralline limestone and the result is a ragged and bare rocky landscape.
Continuing towards il-Ħnejja or the Blue Grotto a rock feature has emerged which has been titled Ġebla tiċċaqlaq. It consists of a rock hulk which looms to a height surpassing 15 metres and which is stuck firmly into the cliff face. It is said that this rock moves during violent stormy weather making strong sounds caused by these movements.
Coastal caves - such as the Reflection Cave, Filfla Cave, Cats Cave, Rotunda Cave, Honey Moon Cave and Blue Window Cave - offer underwater views of marine fauna.
Coastline
To the north of the Wied iż-Żurrieq fishing hamlet one can find other sea caves and grottoes as found on its southern sea leading to the blue grotto.The Nuffied al-Kabir and Nuffied iż-Żgħir coves, the capes of Tal-Gawwija, Rsejjen, Ħalq it-Tafal, Ras Niġnuna, Maqluba l-Baħar, Għar Mantel, and Ras il-Ħamrija are among the Qrendi landmarks that attract visitors.
Main sights
Megalithic and other ancient sites
Ħaġar Qim
People were aware of the existence of the Neolithic temples of Ħaġar Qim since many centuries back, at least from the seventeenth century. The temples date to the around 3000 B.C. though they were not built in one instance and thus their different structures span hundreds of years between them. The temples are unusual in that they are sited on the crest of a ridge when most other temples were constructed on the slope below a hilltop.The presence of these large boulders placed in orderly fashion despite their size and weight ignited the fantasy of some and led them to interpret the site as the work of giants, following what others also believed that the island was inhabited by a race of giants who came here after the great Flood described in Genesis 2, believing that these were the descendants of Noah and who in Malta built structures such as Ħaġar Qim temples.
The mystery of these big stones jutting out of the ground began to be unravelled in the nineteenth century when excavations started in 1839.by J.G. Vance of the Royal Engineers who was requested by Governor Sir Henry Bouverie to supervise the first dig. He also put forward his opinion on these ruins saying that: "I can compare it with no other remains that I have ever seen or read of: I consider it to be quite unique and dissimilar to any discovery hitherto treated of." At the time practically nothing was known about those ruins and all Vance could do was conjecture about their origins and similarities to other temples and cultures.
Professor of Prehistoric European Archaeology and Director of the Institute of Archaeology in the University of London in the mid-twentieth century, visited the site and observed: "I have been visiting the prehistoric ruins all round the Mediterranean, from Mesopotamia to Egypt, Greece and Switzerland, but I have nowhere seen a place as old as this one."
The Ħaġar Qim site is composed of a number of structures consisting of a central building, two smaller ones on the sides and the remaining parts of a third building. The main temple was presumably built in successive stages during the fourth millennium B.C. It thus developed into an irregular and complex ground plan. Its monumental façade has become a famous and iconic feature and faces the south-east. Of particular note are the large megaliths that shape the outer wall and which are pieced by an entrance in the middle formed of a trilithon structure, which, in turn, leads to a number of chambers.
The temple complex has many other interesting features which make the adjacent museum and inside environment enticing to discover, that include stone altars, the mystic oracle hole, two stumps of legs possibly of 'Mother Goddess' figures, as well as the discovery of a small clay figurine depicting a woman after having given birth termed as, "The Venus of Malta", and a small floral engraved stone altar.
Mnajdra
On leaving the Ħaġar Qim complex, going in a western direction, one can walk down a modern-day paved path and 500 meters away comes face to face with the Mnajdra complex of temples. This site differs in some ways from the other temple just visited.Mnajdra is largely constructed from coralline limestone quarried from the area giving the temples a much more rugged, and rather bluish appearance, a result of this hard stone – much different from the yellowish and much softer globigerina limestone predominant in the zone where Ħaġar Qim stands and of which it was built.
The Mnajdra structures are sited towards the edge of the promontory facing Filfa – the islet which pops out of the water a short distance away and separated from the mainland by the blue sea so predominant in this area, and is "probably the most atmospheric all the temples"; as it is tucked into a hollow of the cliffs and surrounded by the natural and marine environment.
The temple complex is composed of three separate buildings, each of which can be entered from a common forecourt, and is an experience going round the temples and its various interior apses that form the different structures. Visitors are stricken with the neatness and regularity of the first course of orthostatic slabs which go round the apses of the middle temple, added to the precision one cannot but notice also the lower than usual size of this first course which barely reaches one meter in height.
A unique feature is a small Bas relief engraving of the roofed façade of a temple which is featured on the largest upright slab to the left of the inner passage of this same temple, amongst other features such as a decorated niche, the 'oracle' holes in the lower temple, and a number of pillar altars in the two bigger temples.
A particular aspect which is connected with these temples is their relationship with astronomy. It is strongly believed that the Neolithic temples were also oriented to follow the movements of the sun. The Summer Solstice and the Winter Solstice as well as the two equinoxes enter into and hit the two major Mnajdra temples indicating that the temple builders aligned the structures according to the ray of light from the sun reflected on these particular days of the year.
Ħaġar Qim too has its own alignment which seems to be linked to the Summer Solstice.