Ġgantija and the surrounding lands : insights through a late eighteenth-century contract

Abstract

The deed through which Giovanni Battista Cassar Desain protected Ggantija is described and possible reasons behind his decision discussed. A plan accompanying the contract has been utilised to throw light on Ggantija and the surrounding late eighteenth-century landscape. Relevant contemporary representations are analysed to throw light on the state of Ggantija before the clearances of the 1820s. Caves, an underground spring, and a forgotten path have been rediscovered, highlighting the fact that the area remains largely unexplored.