Cave collapse on Malta

In 2015 I blogged about the limestone and caves on Malta. I had visited the south coast, and seen the Blue Grotto at Wied Iz Zurrieq

On Easter Saturday 20 April 2019, the Times of Malta reported "Cave collapses on Qrendi coastline, forming short-lived natural arch. Għar Ħanex vanishes over two distinct phases"

A cave along Malta’s southern coast collapsed over Friday and Saturday, creating a short-lived limestone arch which only held up for hours before also giving way.

Għar Ħanex, which lay on a stretch of coastline on the outskirts of Qrendi between Għar Lapsi and Wied iż-Żurrieq, is believed to have initially collapsed on Good Friday.

That first collapse turned what used to be a cave into a new arch, prompting tentative comparisons with the now-defunct Azure Window, which caved in just over two years ago.

Within hours, the newly-formed arch also caved in, leaving a gaping hole where Għar Ħanex used to be.

The cave had already weathered some damage during last February's vicious storm. Fierce gales took their toll. 

The site is designated as a Special Area of Conservation, benefits from Natura 2000 protection. 

Natura 2000 is an EU-wide network of nature conservation areas which enjoy specific protection under the EU's Birds and Habitat Directives.

The onetime cave formed part of a series of coastal formations in the area which are known as Nuffied. These include a small cove known as il-Maqluba tal-baħar, the Ras il-Miġnuna natural arch, Ħalq it-Tafal and in-Nuffied iż-Żgħir.

See the Times of Malta for photos.

The Azure Window, before and after

My last blog was about the collapse of the Azure Window on the Maltese island of Gozo. A week later I was able to visit the site and see it for myself. I have roughly sketched in where the rock arch was -

And a reminder of how it was -

There was a guard located at the start of the path that used to lead to the arch, he was stopping anyone from going that way.

Now the arch has gone, the piece of rock jutting out from the top of the cliff looks like a face, maybe a gargoyle!

© Liz Price

The Azure Window on Gozo has collapsed

The famous limestone rock arch known as the Azure Window on the island of Gozo has collapsed. Gozo is Malta's 'sister' island. The Azure Window was one of the main attractions on Gozo but collapsed into the sea in a storm on 8 March 2017.

Known as Tieqa tad-Dwejra in Maltese, the rock arch was an icon of Malta and internationally known. Not only did the arch collapse, but the stack also disappeared.

In good weather tourists used to walk over the arch. The arch as it was, photo from The Telegraph -

Photo from Times of Malta -

It seems there was a raging sea and the arch collapsed into the sea. Even the stack disappeared as well. The Maltese Prime Minister and other ministers all expressed their sorry soon after it happened.

In 2013 geologists knew the areas was suffering from erosion but the arch was expected to last for decades. In 2016 people were no longer allowed to walk across the bridge. A nice photo of the arch as it was at low tide, taken from NYT -


I visited Malta in 2015 but didn't have time to go to Gozo and also the weather wasn't at it's best in January. And unbelievably I had already booked to go to Malta on 14 th March and had intended to go to Gozo. I will still go - but I won't be able to see the Azure Window.

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Malta - the Limestone Heritage

My second blog on Malta's limestone. See first part on the limestone and caves.

The Limestone Heritage is a very interesting place, basically an exhibition of how the stone was quarried. It is located in an old quarry just outside Siggiewi. Globigerina Limestone was quarried here but due to the number of fossils the rock was unsuitable for building so the quarry was only operational for 5 years.

9 Euro entry. Firstly you watch a short film in an auditorium, many languages are available. The film was really interesting, telling about the use of quarrying from early times to present. The film said that more stone has been produced in the last 40 years using modern mechanized techniques than was produced in the last 700 years. In the days of horse and carts, 30 blocks could be put on one cart. The men worked from sunrise until midday.

Then you go on a self guided tour with a headset. The exhibition is laid out in the old quarry and there are 14 stops with explanation at each one. You see the methods of stone extraction, originally done by hand using splitting techniques, then the more modern techniques using machinery and saws and you see how the stone was loaded onto the trucks - these replaced the older horse and carts.  It was really good although I found it a bit rushed. The models of the workers looked lifelike, wearing real clothes.

The quarry walls -

bell well

After you go around a few more exhibits showing the use of stone. You walk past a farmhouse with has many stone features, e.g. water channels, cupboard, stove, ventilator, staircase etc.

This example of  stone cat door is interesting -

There is an example of a girna, the traditional Maltese stone hut used by herdsmen for shelters and many can still be seen across Malta.

There is also an example of a limestone tomb.

Then you go into the garden where orange, lemon, olive and pomegranate trees are grown – citrus groves are commonly planted in disused quarries as they are a sun trap. The petting area has goats and 2 donkeys and there are birds such as peacocks.

Inside the building is a museum with a large display of masonry tools, for sawing and splitting the stone.

And of course there is a souvenir shop at the end of the tour!

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© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission

Limestone and caves on Malta

Malta is basically a lump of limestone in the Mediterranean sea! You see limestone everywhere. All the buildings are made from the cream coloured stone. All the dry stone walls in towns and countryside are made of sawn limestone blocks and or natural stones. They were all neat.

There are quarries everywhere, they are mostly rectangular deep holes cut out of the rock. Many buildings were built on the site where the stone was quarried, so some have a cellar.

The Malta limestone is young, the oldest only dating back to the Tertiary period. The surface outcrops are about 30 to 35 myo. The limestone can be divided into 5 layers. At the top is the Upper Coralline limestone which is hard, this is followed by a thin band of Greensand, then a softer rock called Blue Clay. Globigerina Limestone is the next layer and is soft-hard. The hardest rock is the lowest, the Lower Coralline Limestone.

The softer Globigerina Limestone has been used for the majority of Malta's building material over the years. The harder more coralline stone was used for the important buildings.

In some places there are large limestone pavements. One such area is at Buskett, near Dingli on the south coast. The Dingli cliffs are a tourist attraction.

The limestone pavement has tourist attractions, Cart Ruts, aka Clapham Junction, and Ghar il-Kbir.

The cart ruts are grooves up to 60 cm deep with an average distance between them of 110 to 140 cm. The age and purpose of these ruts is a mystery, one suggestion is they were made by the carts pulling out stone blocks. Malta has an ancient history, the megalithic temples are regarded as the oldest free-standing buildings in the world, even older than the Pyramids and Stonehenge. In this limestone pavement are 2 cave entrances in the ground, both 'protected' by stone walls. I assume this is Ghar il-Kbir. The information board says Ghar il-Kbir is a complex of inter-connected caves that were used as habitations. They were described in 1637.

I saw quite a few snails here.

Further east from Dingli is The Blue Grotto and Wied Iz-Zurrieq Merhba.

A wied is a dry valley and they can be seen all over the island.

In summer months there are boat trips to the Blue Grotto, but during the winter the sea is wild and the wind can be incredibly strong - as it was during my visit. So I was only able to look down on Blue Grotto from the view point at the top of the cliffs.

The cliffs opposite Blue Grotto -

Small limestone island off the coast

I also went down to sea level to see the sea pounding the rocks.

 The limestone hill -

Ghar Dalam is probably the most famous cave on the island. It is an important fossil site and is a tourist attraction.

Entry is 5 Euro. Firstly you can go round the museum which is really interesting and in the second room is a huge collection of bones.

Then you walk down to the cave.

The cave is only 144 m long. There is a pathway through the first section and electric lights. Short but interesting cave.

The Limestone Heritage is a very interesting place, see next blog.

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UPDATE 2020 :

An interesting article on Ghar Dalam on Ancient Origins 8 March 2020.

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© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission