METAGEUM '07
EXPLORING THE MEGALITHIC MIND

Inter-disciplinary international conference
Exploring the Consciousness of the Megalithic Temple Builders
Caraffa Stores, Birgu, Island of Malta
3rd - 11th November 2007

The Venue: The Caraffa Stores

Caraffa Stores

Caraffa Stores, 3rd floor. Photo credit:Peter B Lloyd

Palazzo Caraffa, the Caraffa Palace, also known more prosaically as Caraffa Stores, was built in 1689 by order of the Italian Grandmaster Gregorio Caraffa. The building is on three levels, each consisting of massive arched vaults. The ground floor housed the main galley supplies depot, and extensive chandlery that dealt with the supply requirements of fighting ships and mercantile vessels that put into the Grand Harbour. The port and maritime central administrative offices of the Order of St John were on the first floor. On the second floor were the officers' quarters for galley squadrons.

Grandmaster Gregorio Caraffa was instrumental in promoting trade and commerce in Malta and was one of the heads of the Order of St John to realise the importance of a sound infrastructure for the purpose.

The Cottonera Waterfront Group has restored the Caraffa Stores as part of the redevelopment of Vittoriosa Waterfront. It is available for hire as a space for exhbitions and events. In 2004 it hosted the hugely successful exhibition Caravaggio - La Mostra Impossible sponsored by RAI. The three floors of the Caraffa building comprise a total area of 3000 square metres. The first and second floors are stone, the third being wooden. The third floor has exits on to street level in Birgu.

For photographs of all the twelve vaults in the venue, click here.

The light honey-coloured sandstone structure of the Caraffa building now provides a light-filled space. Although secular in origin, the arches and graceful curves of the interior lend a spiritual tone to the space. It is an ideal venue in which to probe, contemplate, and reflect upon the thinking of the first civilisations of this island. The architecture and engineering of the twenty-five megalithic temples represent remarkable achievements for a people who had no metal tools. Built in the Neolithic period, before the discovery of metal-working, the megalithic stones were cut with sharpened tools of stone and bone. As we sit it in the Caraffa Stores and admire the art of its architects, let us imaginatively project our minds back through the millennia and consider what great passion drove the Neolithic people to comparable feats of construction with vastly less powerful tools.

The complex of interconnected vaults of different sizes and different ambiences that makes up the Caraffa building offer interesting opportunities for distinct functions of the Metageum conference -- talks, workshops, performance, music, and art can utilise the spaces creatively. The soft and warm-coloured stone creates a favourable and harmoniuous enclosure of space. We invite suggestions from prospective delegates for ideas for using the spaces in ways that help us to make the imaginative leap into the mental world of our Neolithic ancestors.

The wooden floorboards of the third floor of the Caraffa building provide a softer space, which is suitable for holding meditation and yoga groups. Conversely, the comparatively low, wooden ceiling of the mezzanine on the second floor provides a more intimate space than the stone-ceilings of the main vaults,

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METAGEUM '07EXPLORING THE MEGALITHIC MIND

The Venue: The Caraffa Stores

METAGEUM '07
EXPLORING THE MEGALITHIC MIND