Sunday, April 20, 2008

ANCIENT JEWISH TOMBS IN MALTA:
Heritage Sundays and Night of the Museums at Mdina and Rabat (Malta Independent)
Heritage Malta is organising another event in the popular Sunday with Heritage Malta series. The next event will be held on Sunday, 27 April and will focus on Mdina and Rabat. Through this activity, the last of the season, Heritage Malta will be giving the public the opportunity to visit the National Museum of Natural History, the Domvs Romana, St Paul’s Catacombs and the Jewish Catacombs in Rabat.

[...]

Visitors will also be able to visit the Jewish Catacombs which are not normally open to visitors. These catacombs, which are found across the road from St Paul’s Catacombs, are a complex of catacombs which contain at least six Jewish Tombs. These ancient Jewish tombs in Rabat testify to the existence of a Hellenised Jewish community on Malta in Roman times. All the tombs in the catacombs have the same plan and tomb-types, and it is often difficult to tell which are Jewish and which Christian. Some carry religious symbols and other engraved decorations, such as crosses, palm fronds, or doves with olive branches - or, in some cases, the Jewish seven-branched candlestick (menorah).

[...]