Tieqa Zera

Azure Window

Useful Information

photography — Tieqa Zera (Azure Window). Public Domain.

Location:	Dwejra Point is 5.5 km west of Victoria. Bus 91. (36.0535616, 14.1882582)
Open:	no restrictions. [2025]
Fee:	free. [2025]
Classification:	Sea Cave Natural Bridge
Light:	n/a
Dimension:	H=28 m, W=25 m, L=17 m.
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
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As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1981	filming locateion for Clash of the Titans.
1981	filming location for Clash of the Titans.
1998	included in the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List.
1997	filming location for the television miniseries The Odyssey.
2002	filming location for The Count of Monte Cristo.
2011	filming location for the Dothraki wedding scene in the first season of HBO’s TV series Game of Thrones.
2012	large slab of rock on the outer edge of the arch collapses.
2013	consultant Peter Gatt presents a geological and geotechnical report.
08-MAR-2017	Natural Bridge collapses in stormy weather.

Description

This is a spectacular limestone archway at Dwejra Point. The long ledge of rock forming the upper arch of the "window" is in danger of collapsing - not that this deters geologists and others from walking across it to scan the rocky ledges for fossilised sea creatures or to get a good photograph. Erosion by the sea over thousands of years has formed this monumental arch along with numerous caves along the coast. See also Inland Sea.

Text by Tony Oldham (2002). With kind permission.

The Tiequa Zera (Azure Window) was a 28 m high hole in the cliffs near Dwejra. The full Maltese name was it-Tieqa Żerqa, it was also known as the it-Tieqa tad-Dwejra (Dwejra Window). On rather recent pictures the natural bridge can be seen with people crossing it. It was quite spectacular and often photographed. One of the first pictures of the Azure Window by Richard Ellis was made around 1890. It was also featured in a number of international films and media productions, including the Dothraki wedding scene in the first season of HBO’s TV series Game of Thrones. Actually this filming caused some controversy because a subcontractor damaged a protected ecosystem on site.

However, the instability of the thin remaining layer of limestone and the pilar was known for years, as Tony mentions in his description from 2002. He visited the bridge and was quite impressed. But what was long prophesized finally happened, during stormy weather the thin bridge finally collapsed in 2017. Fortunately it was stormy weather and no visitors were on the bridge at that point, so nobody was harmed. But the pilar of the window became also unstable and so today not only the arch but also the pilar has completely vanished. Its unclear if actually the arch or the pilar collapsed first. After several collapses in 2012 and 2013 the consultant Peter Gatt presented a geological and geotechnical report. He said that the rock was "relatively stable and will continue to remain so for a number of years". But only three years later Peter Gatt warned that the illegal use of explosives at the nearby Inland Sea could have damaged the already weak structure. He requested the arch and pillar to be monitored over a long period of time, but this was not done. Finally, in December 2016, an emergency order was published prohibiting people from going on the arch, trespassers facing a fine of €1500. It was never enforced and visitors were still walking on top of the arch until it finally collapsed. It was sheer luck that nobody was harmed.

In 2018, the Russian architect Svetozar Andreev proposed the construction of an artificial Azure Window building. Placed on the same spot and with the same shape and size it would have five floors with over 5,000 m² exhibition space for a museum of Maltese History. Like several other similar projects it was never realized. After a few years the government published that there would not be any development at the site.

The site is still worth a visit though. Nearby is the Inland Sea, which we have also listed. And there is the Blue Hole, a vertical shaft, 10 m in diameter and 15 m deep. It leads to a cave in 9 m below the surface, which has a portal to the sea and extends some meters into the land. It is a famous dive site, but we did not list it as it is actually only interesting for divers.