The Palaeochristian catacombs at Karwija, limits of Kirkop, are at present being cleaned under the supervision of Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna.
The catacombs consist of three chambers which are characterised by arches, pilasters, decorations and headrests.
These catacombs are located just 100 metres away from the new boys’ secondary school, St Benedict’s College, at Kirkop. Their rehabilitation is part of the Planning Permit Obligations to be fulfilled by the ‘Foundation for Tomorrow Schools’ as the school’s developers.
Once again, FWA has been entrusted by the foundation to take care of the heritage related tasks on the site, after having acted as heritage monitors for the three years of the construction phase of St Benedict College, which ended last September.
The cleaning works, carried by the Cleansing Department within the Resources and Infrastructure Ministry, are supported by the Kirkop local council. The catacombs were full of rubble and soil, which made cleaning all the more difficult during this rainy season.
The site will be fenced off after the cleaning to discourage the illegal dumping and vandalism that plagued this site in these past years. An interpretation panel will be installed on site to raise awareness about the historical importance of this site. FWA is aiming to take full management of the site in the near future.
The discovery of one of the tombs was made in 1962, and was excavated by Flight Lieutenant Jordan. The tomb had already been disturbed during the excavation of an air-raid shelter during the Second World War, which had led into the end of the inner chamber.
Despite all the previous disturbances, a good quantity of decayed human bones and fragments of pottery were found.
Most of the pottery fragments consisted of shards of late Roman lamps dated to the fifth century AD with some shards bearing the CHI-RHO monogram (an early Christian symbol denoting Christ). This marks the catacombs as an Early Christian burial site, dated to the fifth century AD.
The site only got noticed again in 1992, when another small catacomb was discovered next to the already excavated one, during housing development in the area.
The tomb was found to be without any archaeological deposits as the chamber had been cut and deepened at one point and transformed into a cistern. The area around the tombs was not developed and was surrounded by a low wall that still exists today.