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Ras il-Wardija is located near San Lawrenz on the edge of cliffs 120m high on the South-West tip of Gozo, flanked by Xlendi harbour to the south and Dwejra inlet to the west, one of the most spectacular locations in the Maltese islands.
The isolated location, highly visible from the sea and from other coastal locations in Gozo and Malta, may have served as a landmark or beacon for mariners sailing the sea between the Maltese islands and North Africa. ‘Wardija’ is a corruption of the Italian word ‘Guardia’ which means ‘watch’, a look-out post for guards, especially along the coast. Xlendi is situated along the sea-route that would have been taken by any boats crossing between North Africa and the eastern Sicily and boats would have sought haven at Xlendi harbour, as proven by the many wrecks on the seabed in the area. The sanctuary (temple) on the Ras il-Wardija cliff would have been seen not only from Dwejra but also from any vessel far out at sea on its way to either Dwejra or Xlendi.
The wrecks at the mouth of Xlendi Bay show that reaching harbour was very dangerous in certain wind conditions, especially due to the reef at the mouth of the harbour. This called for the need of divine protection from a temple that was well visible when approaching or leaving harbour. Sailors might have also visited it in thanksgiving soon after their safe arrival or to pray for a safe journey before their departure.
Ras il-Wardija was probably first inhabited in the Bronze Age, around 1500 BC; cave dwellings from Neolithic times are found at some of the surrounding hills like Għajn Abdul and, possibly, Ta’ Dbieġi.
Excavations at the grand, complex, and unique Ras il-Wardija monument show that it was a religious sanctuary from the Punic period of the 3rd BC to the Roman period of the 4th Century AD. Additionally, the terraced setting at Ras il-Wardija is considered similar to the magnificent terrace complexes of Hellenistic (Greek) sanctuaries around the Mediterranean world dating to 3BC, when the Ras il-Wardija sanctuary may have first been built.
On the first terrace a building facing east – west was built of stone blocks. Its internal and external wall surfaces were covered with fine plaster, which means this was an important and elegantly decorated building, possibly an unroofed offering area. On the fifth terrace a room measuring 5.60m by 4.60m was cut into the rock-face with its wide-open entrance facing the sea to the west. Five large niches were cut into its three walls, finished with imitation of architectural mouldings (frames). A rock-cut U-shaped bench, possibly used for banqueting, ran along the three walls of the room, leaving a passage in the middle. These features sadly no longer exist.
In front of the sacred area, a large basin or pool with an internal flight of steps reaching down to its bottom served perhaps for ritual bathing while a bell-shaped well and an altar are also found on the fifth terrace, all set against the astonishing landscape of the Ras il-Wardija headland.
This landmark on the religious map of the ancient Mediterranean was excavated by the Missione Archeologica Italiana a Malta, between 1964 – 1967, however while images were adored on other sites, excavations at this sanctuary did not reveal any findings of statuettes, leading to the theory that this cult did not adore images.
There might have been more than one god venerated in this sanctuary; Dionysius could have been one of them. A symbol of the Punic goddess Tanit sculpted into the rock-face and stolen at the time of the visit of a French film crew to the site, was recovered some twenty years later and is now at the Gozo Archaeology Museum.
The nearby fresh water spring and fertile soils could explain why this site remained was active right through to medieval times when it was used by hermits, similar to the Ras ir-Raħeb (headland of the hermit) complex flanking Fomm ir-Riħ Bay in Baħrija, Malta. Remains of a Knights’ period tower are visible to this day on the highest part of of a Ras il-Wardija. During World War II, the area was used for the defence of the islands.
The land on which the sanctuary is located is privately owned by George Spiteri, and permission may be required in order to visit the site.
REFERENCES:
Religious Landscapes and Identities of the Maltese Islands in a Mediterranean Context – 700 B.C. – A.D. 500 – George Azzopardi
Ras il-Wardija – National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands. 16 December 2011
Gozo – a historical and scenic cornucopia – Bugeja, Lino (10 January 2016). Times of Malta.
Ras il-Wardija Sanctuary Revisited – George Azzopardi
The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites – Richard Stillwell
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