World's Oldest Free-Standing Temple to Enjoy 22 Brand-New Neighbours
A 22-apartment block with 20 garages has been approved in the buffer zone of Gozo's Ġgantija, ensuring the 5,500-year-old UNESCO temple need never feel lonely again.
Wonderful news from Gozo. After 5,500 years of crushing solitude, the Ġgantija temples are getting neighbours.
The Planning Authority has given its final blessing to a handsome 22-apartment block, with 20 basement garages, in the buffer zone of Ġgantija in Xagħra, one of the oldest free-standing structures on Earth, older than the pyramids and Stonehenge, and until now tragically under-served for parking.
Buffer-zone living
A “buffer zone” sounds restrictive until you realise what it really is: the most exclusive postcode a UNESCO World Heritage Site can offer. Where lesser developments make do with a sea view, these residents will enjoy a 360-degree heritage view, gazing out over a temple older than recorded history, while the temple, for its part, enjoys an uninterrupted view of 22 balconies. The planning board agreed, voting 10 to 1, which is practically unanimous if you do not count the one.
Heritage, but make it a checklist
The project sailed through a heritage impact assessment that diligently listed every concern, the dominance over the streetscape, the single homogeneous mass, the demolition of a humble old farmhouse, and then, in a triumph of optimism, concluded that the impact was “not significant.” Conservationists grumbled that you cannot list red flags in detail and then wave them through, but this is exactly the can-do spirit the islands are famous for. Heritage, reduced to a tidy checklist, all boxes pleasingly ticked.
Practically UNESCO-approved
Officials are keen to stress the scheme “will not prejudice” the World Heritage Site, and the paperwork leans warmly on UNESCO and ICOMOS, presenting their involvement as a kind of seal of approval. The fact that UNESCO does not actually approve projects is a technicality best left in the footnotes. As far as the brochure is concerned, the apartments are, give or take, internationally endorsed.
A thriving pipeline
Best of all, this is only the beginning. Critics warn that approval sets a precedent, that the next application will follow, and the next, each leaning on the same flawless logic of “no significant impact.” They say this as though it were a problem. We call it a development pipeline, and Gozo is open for business.
Spare a thought for the temple’s celebrated prehistoric sculptures, the rotund Neolithic “fat ladies” carved by the islands’ first artists. After five and a half millennia, they will finally have a rotund concrete neighbour to admire. Come to Xagħra and witness history, now with allocated parking.
