The giant of Gozo

At the Maltese Neolithic site of Ġgantija, a disquieting ruin

Ġgantija in Gozo, Malta, one of the oldest buildings in the world. (© Harrison Blackman, 2022)

The oldest religious building in the world may well be a stack of eroded boulders on Gozo, a Maltese island that just comprises 26 square miles (the same size as Arlington County in Virginia).

Temples are among the oldest surviving buildings of ancient civilizations. Built to reflect devotion to higher powers (and an ancient despot’s devotion to those gods), these temples were built to last. And the Neolithic temples of Ġgantija (pronounced “gigatantiya”, like the Spanish “gigante”) predates Stonehenge, were built as early as 3600 B.C.E.