
An ode to Tal-Wej necropolis in Mosta
Our rich heritage in Tal-Wej area calls for conservation and protection after recent attempts were made by developers to turn it into another 'Sliema' concrete jungle

Newsweek reported how another attempt by developers for the issue of a building permit has been filed to erect villas on the sacred land at Tal-Wej Mosta. This is evident by a recent application PC/11/24 that wishes to join Triq il-Ħannewija with Triq is-Seneskalk to form a new road.
The intention is that it will eventually result in a large plot of 1,733 sqr meters, ideal for building five villas. NGO’s Moviment Gaffitti protested that this burial land should be protected. It is good to recall how, in 2019, ERA gave assurances that a large tract of land in Tal-Wej, measuring 203,000 sqr meters lying in a protected zone full of habitats and in need of careful zoning, should not be sanctioned to be turned into another concrete site.
One recalls how three years ago Din l-Art Helwa has called for the intervention of the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage and for the Planning Authority concerning an application by some developers to remove the top soil on a three tumoli site in Tal-Wej, Mosta - a hallowed ground hosting bronze age remains. The site is located outside a development zone in the outskirts of San Pawl Tat Targa and the archaeological investigation is being proposed by owners of the land.
In the past, Mosta residents gave a sigh of relief after so many years of protest that the tomb area at Tal-Wej currently lying in ruins was finally scheduled by the PA. Perish the thought that ghosts of our Bronze Age ancestors buried in the Tal-Wej necropolis will collectively rise from chamber tombs to solicit us to pay homage to their resting place.
Our rich heritage in Tal-Wej area calls for conservation and protection after recent attempts were made by developers to turn it into another “Sliema” concrete jungle. Tal-Wej is rich with rock pools being a few centimetres deep that sustain a unique community of flora and fauna. These have adapted their reproductive cycles to the short lifespan of these rock pools.
Thanks to the environmentalists who lobbied unsung and unaided for years they succeeded to protect this sacred burial ground in Mosta from the ravages of demolition and building works. Regrettably, not so much protection was granted for a vast area (now fully constructed in garages, showrooms, multiple flats and warehouses) issued by the PA for a well connected developer/s in an area known as il-Wesgha tal-Gganti,.
This is located adjacent to Mosta’s Lidl supermarket. The Superintendent of Cultural Heritage proclaimed that the site itself had low archaeological value saying that he cannot afford to protect all areas within the approved development plan as this will be tantamount to classify the entire spatial plan as “fossil” Malta. But residents disagree saying that if we ignore precautions and send an army of rock excavators to dig up ancestor tombs, dolmens and catacombs, we wantonly destroy our heritage and all this will continue to convert the island into a jungle of glass and concrete structures - a soul less city.
This land “Il-Wesgha tal-Gganti” is listed as sacred in “Storja tal Mosta” a book written by local historian E.B. Vella. He who points out to the discovery of megaliths dating to the Neolithic period. Vella also makes reference to earlier descriptions of the area by Grognet, as well as folkloric references, which suggest the presence of more complex megalithic structures.
This saga begs the question - what is the cost of protecting our heritage from overzealous developers and do the benefits of commercial exploitation of such land ever outweigh the loss of our patrimony? In an over populated island, very few care about our Bronze Age patrimony when so many millions can be reaped from its development. Developers and property barons claim they cannot live and bring food on the table just by reciting Hail Marys.
Is the public expected to yield to pressure from them owning such plots. Land owners bought such derelict land in Mosta at fire sale prices, so as can be expected they want to monetize it. Why should tombs, fauna, and lifeless guarique rock forfeit them the right to earn millions. Intense property speculation is even practiced by some prominent members of Cabinet.
Going with the flow, we continue sacrificing a rich legacy from our ancestors, who lovingly bequeathed us with sites showing traces of rare archaeological remains particularly from the Bronze Age and Punic periods consisting of catacombs, shallow tombs dug in rock and sometimes the presence of complex megalithic structures which form an opulent archaeological marvel. It is obvious that owners of such land endowed with archaeological remains are faced with a veto from the Superintendence of Heritage mandating that the land cannot be developed.
Can the argument go - we cannot halt progress by slowing building activity, considering that the island is so dotted with artefacts that developers may feel disenfranchised should regulators brand it as a “fossil” island. Yet, following years of protest by residents and NGOs, sanity prevailed and a bid by landowners to overturn an official decision designating a zone of Tal-Wej, between Naxxar and Mosta as a Natura 2000 protected site has been recently dismissed by the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal.
This is now a protected site and a Special Area of Conservation in view of its temporary freshwater rockpools that form in outcrops of the Lower Coralline Limestone. The pools host flora such as the Maltese Waterwort, the Maltese Horned Pondweed and fauna such as the Tadpole Shrimp and the Painted Frog. Additionally, the area also hosts guarique and grassland habitats.
This decision is a triumph. It slows a daily destruction of Natura 2000 ecological sites. The obvious question to follow is can the Hon Bonett secure state funds (and sponsors) to erect protecting walls at Tal-Wej and build a visitation centre. Ideally, ministry cleans up the rubbish in sunken Bronze Age tombs. With some attention, Heritage Malta shall render Tal-Wej necropolis as another historical site able to attract visitors like Imnajdra.