Ħal Saflieni: an underground space cut into the stone

Useful to know

The Ħal Saflieni Hypogea in Malta is a prehistoric underground complex cut into the rock and used as a necropolis. UNESCO regards the possible earlier role of a sanctuary as an assumption rather than an unconditionally established fact. [1]

Here the architectural reading starts from the cavity: the connections between the premises and the way of moving underground. An external facade cannot explain such an object. In reconstructions, distinguish between measured spaces and assumptions about rituals. The purpose of an underground place is not proved only by its unusual shape or by the modern impression of mystery.