Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/989894
15 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 3 JUNE 2018 NEWS PHOTO BY OLIVER GATT RIGHT: Not many know of the Capuchin Order's custom of having permanent exhibitions of skeletons and mummified monks in the crypt beneath the Capuchin Friary in Floriana. The dead bodies were probably cleaned of intestines and blood and left to dry out for more than a year in a room. The dried bodies of certain "holy" friars were erected and placed in niches dug in the walls of the crypt. The most venerated dried body that is still preserved is the one of Fra Krispin Zammit of Gozo who died in the convent in 1867, aged 78. Harq Hammiem Cave (Ghar Harq il-Hammiem) is the only known fully submerged terrestrial cavern in the Maltese islands. The cave has two chambers on different levels, with an interconnecting narrow corridor leading from the upper chamber to a fully submerged lower chamber. The surface of the water is at a depth of 16 metres below sea level, with maximum depth of 52 metres below sea level. The water inside the cave approximates freshwater at the surface, turns brackish with depth and has seawater characteristics at deeper levels. The cave is inhabited by the rare albino shrimp. Harq Hammiem Cave is situated on the north side of St George's Bay in St Julian's PHOTO BY OLIVER GATT PHOTO BY KEN SCICLUNA PHOTO BY FIONA VELLA