Mdina — The Lost Mosques Plan

Your quest begins at the Mdina Gate, built in 1724 by the Knights of Malta. This three-arched fortified gate, with its drawbridge over a dry moat, was the main entrance to this fortified medieval city. It is here, at VCM3+V9W, Mdina, that you receive your first enigma, hidden within the stones that served as sets for the Port-Royal gates in Game of Thrones season 1. The architect you embody would have overseen the final touches of this edifice, replacing the 12th-century Arab gate, to restore the Old Capital of Malta to its former glory.

Continue towards St. Paul’s Cathedral, completed in 1705 under the direction of Lorenzo Gafà. This Baroque cathedral, erected on the site where Roman governor Publius met Saint Paul in 60 AD, is a pillar of Maltese Baroque heritage. Its 46-meter facade and 67-meter dome dominate Mdina's skyline. By deciphering Stefano Erardi's frescoes, painted in the late 17th century, you hope to find a key to your plan. The clues are hidden in architectural details that only a master builder like yourself would recognize.

Palazzo Vilhena, built in 1728 by Giovanni Battista Conti for Grand Master Antonio Manoel de Vilhena, marks another crucial stage of your journey. This Baroque palace, transformed into a museum in 1970, covers an area of 1,200 m² on Villegaignon Street. It served as a set for the hospital in Game of Thrones. The Grand Master's archives might contain parchments revealing information about Mdina's ancient Islamic structures. Your interactive visit invites you to examine every corner of this historic monument, searching for hidden symbols.

The Mdina Bastions, fortified ramparts built mainly in the 16th century by the Knights of St. John, offer panoramic views of the Rabat valley and the Mediterranean Sea. These fortifications, approximately 1 km in length around the enclosed city, were reinforced after the 1565 siege against the Ottomans. Walking along these bastions, your GPS scavenger hunt will lead you to the Chapel of St Agatha, a 17th-century Baroque chapel dedicated to the Sicilian martyr. The details of its marble altar, restored in the 20th century, might conceal coordinates leading to the Greeks Gate, a narrow and discreet 14th-century secondary gate, less frequented than the main Mdina Gate.

Your exploration of Mdina culminates at Palazzo Falson Historic House Museum, the city's oldest intact private residence, dating from the 13th century. Acquired by Olof Gollcher in 1927 and opened as a museum in 2007, this dwelling on Villegaignon Street also served as a set for Littlefinger's brothel in Game of Thrones. It is within its 500 m² of exhibition space, among medieval artifacts, that the final fragment of the plan is revealed. This thematic circuit of Mdina will have allowed you to reconstruct the history of the «Lost Mosques,» a story of transformation and cultural layering at the heart of this fortified medieval city and its Maltese heritage.