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Hagar Qim means 'Standing
Stone' and though the globigerina limestone has been badly eroded,
especially on the seaward side, the site still retains megaliths of huge
proportions. The largest is 7m by 3m, which - with a block from the
Ggantija Temples on Gozo - is the largest used in any of the temples.
When the site was excavated in the early 19th century, seven fat statuettes
were found here, among them the so-called 'Venus of Malta', a headless clay
figurine of a standing female nude of exceptionally generous proportions.
This is now in the National Museum of Archeology, along with squatting
stylized figures - also headless and extremely obese - and a four-sided
limestone altar found in the temples.
The site is complex and irregular, made up of various chambers and with no
obvious plan. Even so it is a pleasure just to walk around and spot some of
the details, such as the mushroom-shaped tables flaking one passageway, the
shrine in the outer wall, the oval opening that suggests an oracle chamber,
the blocks of stone covered with pitted decoration and the well designed
temple façade.
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