Archaeological studies in St George Square, Valletta have reveiled an undocumanted network of tunnels which possibly connect to the Palace. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier
Posted on 03/01/2009 6:37:10 PM PST by SunkenCiv
Preliminary archaeological studies in St George's Square, Valletta have uncovered an undocumented network of underground passageways, which could possibly connect to the Palace... The passageways were discovered on Tuesday when government employees from the Works Division under architect Claude Borg dug through a wall in a small room on Archbishop Street. After clearing debris and other material, they discovered that the passageway leads to under the Main Guard portico, parallel to the Palace... Further excavation works revealed that the central passageway had a number of corridors that led to other directions. One such corridor, at right angles with the central passageway and which seems to be blocked, runs in the direction of the Palace. Mr Borg, executive co-ordinator of the Valletta Rehabilitation Project, said that archival research and previous studies of the site did not reveal the existence of the underground passageways... It seems that the passageways used to form part of a drainage system built by the Knights of the Order of St John... The Knights had built the Wignacourt fountain in the square to celebrate the arrival of fresh water to Valletta.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesofmalta.com ...
Archaeological studies in St George Square, Valletta have reveiled an undocumanted network of tunnels which possibly connect to the Palace. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier
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I LOVE posts about this stuff!!!
Ancient civilizations, musty old tombs long buried, and all of it.
Bugger all the political nonsense, give me a 4000-2000 year old Mummy, over some decaying old Congresscritter, of ANY political stripe, any day of the frigging week.
In most cases, the Mummy is better looking, and is way less likely to be lying.
;’)
[sound of coffin lid opening, everyone thought the joke was dead and buried]
People who are fascinated by mummies aren’t wrapped too tight.
/rimshot
The Islands comprising Malta have artifacts frorm pre-History (7000 years ago), through WWII.
It's a fascinating place and easy to get to, and get around the islands.
Photo: Lost Crusaders' Tunnels Found Near Palace on Malta -- Discovered in February 2009 in the capital of the Mediterranean island nation of Malta, this tunnel is thought to be part of a centuries-old underground water system built by the Knights of Malta.
Established in the 11th century, the military order was a key fighting force in the Crusades, a series of Christian military campaigns that originally had the goal of capturing Jerusalem. The Knights of Malta ruled the island from 1530 to 1798.
Photograph courtesy Claude Borg of the Valletta Rehabilitation Project
Very interesting.
Looks like pretty nice stonework, too.
Wow... that stonework is in great shape.
I was thinking the same thing. Very nice craftsmanship for a sewer. The defensive works in Valletta are really amazing, I wouldn’t be suprised if these had a dual use.
Card, have seen this?
I highly recommend visiting the inexpensive, English-speaking Mediterranean country.
It has a wealth of sites, ranging from pre-history (5000 BC) through WWII. Because it withstood heavy bombardment by the Germans, the people of Malta were award the OBE.
St. Paul was shipwrecked on Malta, the Knights of Malta ruled the isle for several centuries and it has been a port on the Mediterranean for thousands of years.
It was reknown for its lace-making and has great beaches.
There was a TV show on Discovery or PBS —or maybe National Geographic—about a huge long tunnel in Asia Minor (Modern Turkey) I saw not long ago.
Built by Roman army troops it brought water over a very long distance through a mountain or something.
Then there are the waterworks in Spain, where the largest Roman gold mine was mined by hydraulic pressure. See
www.typicallyspanish.com/news/publish/article_20790.shtml -
Their engineers used a technique known to Pliny the Elder as ‘Ruina Montium,’ literally ‘destroy the mountain,’ using the force of water to exploit the rich mineral resources of the area. It was an amazing feat of engineering which led Pliny to say when he first arrived there, ‘What happens in Las Médulas is far beyond the work of giants.’
The Roman engineers constructed a vast hydraulics network to channel water from as far away as 100 kilometres up the face of the mountains. There, the water was stored in large reservoirs until the sluice was opened to wash down the soil in a sudden rush of water – either along trenches or grooves cut into the mountain side - bringing with it the gold.
Another technique was applied within the mountains, where thousands of men dug galleries and channels out of the rock. There was only one exit – where the water was let in to bring down the mountain and release the gold-bearing rock as the enormous pressure caused the mountain to explode.
They used a lot of these during WW2 as bomb shelters
There’s a topic on the Samos tunnel, but that wasn’t built by the Romans. :’)
There’s at least one (older) topic about that Roman mining operation you mentioned. It’s on here. Somewhere. :’)
They must be careful mucking around in old tunnels, we’ll end up with the reign of fire!
“The Knights of Malta ruled the island from 1530 to 1798.”
Now they rule a building in Rome - The Sovereign and Military Order of Malta has been called the smallest country in the world.
http://www.orderofmalta.org/english
They have fresh water in Valleta?
As in most densely populated islands, Malta (and the smaller Gozo) relies on extremely rigorous conservation including capturing rainwater, water imports (by ship, hard to believe), and desalination. I believe desalination may have moved up into second place by now.
I’ve been to Malta.
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