Tal-Ghonq Cemetery

On the left of the road leading from Mgarr Road to the Gozo General Hospital lies Tal-Ghonq Cemetery. This place served as a burial site up to September, 1899, when the government issued an order prohibiting further use of it. As the gate is always under chain and lock, access to it is practically impossible: people, in fact, leave candles at the foot of the gate.

These days I was lucky enough to notice that some government workers were inside the place: they had gone there to inspect a metal box adjacent to one of the walls. As the gate was ajar, I grasped the opportunity and entered to say a prayer and have a look around.

With the exception of a mound in the centre, presumably the so-called fossa or ditch-grave, there is absolutely nothing to indicate that the place is a cemetery. A wooden cross behind the fossa is itself completely encircled and hidden by long branches of wild vegetation. In fact trees cover the whole area of the cemetery, all in a most unkempt state.

Not one grave can be made out in the whole cemetery. Nor can one walk about, as the whole surface is covered with soil and grass. It is not even possible to make out one single passage or path in the whole cemetery. An opening at the top of the fossa shows you skulls and human bones, evidently exposed to the inclemencies of the weather!

In short, the whole place speaks very badly of our feelings and respect for the departed. I believe both civil and ecclesiastical authorities should see to it that something be done to give the place a more decent look. Not only out of Christian piety for the dead, but also that the living may be better educated in their feelings for the departed and encouraged to appreciate more the country's historical patrimony. Putting electric bulbs on its front wall in November is hardly enough.

And what about that pedestal monument in front of the cemetery's gate, right across the road? The soil under it has been moving away for quite a few years - with the result that the fabric itself is no longer perpendicular. Why let it fall down? The bass-relief ensculptured on it, depicting holy souls in purgatory, is very artistic.

Not only did the cemetery serve Gozo's needs for many, many years, but it was also very much used in the various outbreaks of cholera in the 19th century. Then, Gozo was hit in the years 1837, 1850, 1854, 1856 and 1865, particularly in the first and last two years. Only when the present public cemetery at Tal-Barmil was fully in use, did Tal-Ghonq Cemetery stop giving its services.