Azure Window: A Maltese Islands Natural Wonder

The Azure Window, a natural wonder of the Maltese Islands. The Azure Window was a limestone arch that stood 30 meters tall and 20 meters wide, a breathtaking sight to behold.

Located on the island of Gozo, the Azure Window was a popular tourist destination and a symbol of Malta's unique natural beauty. The limestone arch was formed by millions of years of erosion, a testament to the power of nature.

The Azure Window was also a significant historical site, with evidence of human activity dating back to the Phoenicians. Unfortunately, the arch collapsed in 2017, but its memory lives on as a reminder of the island's natural wonders.

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The Azure Window was formed through natural erosion of the rock formation where the sea with its mighty force of waves eroded little by little the rocks at sea level. The rain also played a role, seeping in and creating natural passages until it found its way to the sea.

The arch developed through sea erosion of a limestone cliff face, starting with an initial notch resulting from wave action. This notch then caused tensile stresses that led to the formation of a vertical joint extending upwards from the notch.

The entire process of forming the arch is believed to have taken around 500 years, with the earliest known record of the Azure Window dating back to an 1824 illustration of the nearby Dwejra Tower.

The Azure Window was a natural arch with a height of about 28 m (92 ft) and a span of around 25 m (82 ft), situated at the tip of a headland known as Dwejra Point.

The arch was formed within the Lower Coralline Limestone Formation, a succession of sedimentary rocks that is widespread on the Maltese Islands and was deposited during the Oligocene.

This formation is subdivided into two Members, Member A and Member B, with Member A forming the arch's base and pillars, and Member B forming much of the unsupported top of the arch.

Member A, ca. 20 m in thickness, mainly consists of the fossils of coralline red algae within a calcite cement, with four facies, numbered A-1 to A-4, with A-2 being the thickest.

Member B was ca. 10 m (33 ft) in thickness and included five facies, numbered B-1 to B-5, with B-5 forming the upper unsupported part of the arch.

The facies of Member B contained a number of fossils, including Scutella, Pecten, large echinoid spines and large benthic foraminifera, and all of the beds of Member B were penetrated by two joints.

The arch was near the Inland Sea, a large circular sinkhole reached by a small arch that developed along a joint in the rocks, and Fungus Rock, an islet that was formed when the bridge of a natural arch collapsed leaving a stack, is also nearby.

The underwater world of the Azure Window is a fascinating sight to behold. A year after its collapse, the iconic landmark has transformed into a popular diving attraction.

The depth of the underwater site ranges from 8 to 57 metres, making it suitable for divers with different certifications. This allows for a variety of dives to explore the area.

The remains of the Azure Window have formed massive boulders of limestone, which are now covered in marine life. The limestone surfaces are cracked and have sharp edges.

It takes a number of dives to explore all the spreading sites, giving divers a chance to see the full extent of the underwater wonder.

The Azure Window collapsed on March 8th, 2017, due to the heavy battering of waves in a strong gale force storm that hit the Maltese islands the day before.

A large slab of rock on the outer edge of the cavity collapsed in April 2012, further increasing the size of the window, and another rock fall occurred in March 2013.

The pillar gave way under the heavy battering of the waves, which are known to be very rough in that area. The window pillar and arch collapsed into massive chunks of rock, which all piled on each other under the sea.

Divers have been told to use registered clubs to dive around the site, as it is spread over a wide area and is ideal for a variety of diver certifications ranging from 5 meters to 52 meters deep.

The Azure Window's collapse had a significant impact on the area. The government announced an international initiative to decide on the site's future in March 2017.

Several options were considered, including leaving the site as is, retrieving the remains of the window, or creating an artificial or augmented reality reconstruction. The government stated that the rock formation would not be rebuilt.

The only response to the international call was a proposal by Gozitan developer Joseph Portelli to construct a hotel within a quarry near the site. The project would include various facilities, but the government decided not to proceed with it in August 2018.

A Russian architect, Svetozar Andreev, proposed a steel structure called The Heart of Malta in 2018. This project drew mixed reactions from the public, with some supporting it and others criticizing it.

The project's critics pointed out that the area is a marine park and that the intervention would destroy the underwater remains of the original Azure Window. The site's foundations would also have to rest in the sea at a depth of over 50 meters, and it's prone to heavy storms.

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The Azure Window has been a popular filming location for many movies and TV shows. It's featured in films like Clash of the Titans (1981) and The Count of Monte Cristo (2002), as well as the 2010 Tamil language Indian film Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya.

It's also been seen in the television miniseries The Odyssey (1997) and was used as a filming location for the Dothraki wedding scene in the first season of HBO's TV series Game of Thrones. The filming of Game of Thrones resulted in controversy when a protected ecosystem was damaged by a subcontractor.

The Azure Window has also been used in advertising, with cliff diver David Colturi featured in a 2017 Hugo Boss advert video at the Azure Window and the Wied il-Mielaħ Window.