New Wrecks of Malta

For a number of years, systematic underwater archaeological research has been conducted off coasts of Malta and Gozo. In the course of this long-term project some very important deposits of underwater cultural heritage have been discovered, mapped and studied. Such sites var y from a 2700 year-old Phoenician shipwreck, the oldest in the central Mediterranean, to dozens of aircraft crash sites and from early modern shipwrecks to battleships from World War I. A significant number of nations and cultures – both past and present – are represented on the seabed off the Maltese Islands. This variety makes Malta the curator for an uniquely well-preserved cultural resource that is global and that belongs to all humankind.

Recognising this responsibility the Government of Malta, through the Ministr y of Justice, Culture and Local Councils, has built the platform for the management, protection and valorisation of underwater assets. It has done so by creating the Underwater Cultural Heritage Unit (UCHU) within Heritage Malta, the national agency for the management of Malta’s cultural heritage collections, sites and museums. The UCHU has, in collaboration with the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, been tasked with identifying a number of underwater sites so as these may be protected and accessed by divers in a controlled and managed manner.