Ġgantija temples belongs to the years before the Common Era — dated here to c. 3600 BCE at Gozo, Malta. The date is a scholarly centre of gravity, not a foundation-stone timestamp.
Megalithic temples older than the pyramids, with apses like a clover, traditionally said to be built by giants.
How it was made
Coralline limestone slabs, plastered interiors, and a forecourt. Malta’s temple people vanished; the stones did not.
Why it still counts as a wonder
It never needed a Greek list to be a wonder: the labour, the alignment, or the survival is enough.
UNESCO’s first Maltese listing. A wonder of early monumentality on a small island.
On dating
BCE in this series means years before the traditional birth of Christ, counted backward. A monument listed as c. 3600 BCE may have been founded earlier, rebuilt later, or famous only in one phase. Where ancient writers disagree — as they do for Babylon’s gardens — we say so.
This is story 82 of 100 in The Trend Ledger’s illustrated desk on world wonders raised before the Common Era.