If you’re into archaeological sites and you have a free day (other than Friday as that’s a holiday in Bahrain), you should make it a point to visit the Barbar Temple in (surprise, surprise) the region of Barbar.

The Barbar Temple was built on a spring of water that houses a sacred well. It is now basically the remains of three different temples which were, once upon a time, a house of worship dedicated to the god Enki, his wife Nankhur Sak, and their son Anzak.

The three temples mentioned above were built during three different time periods. The first temple was built around 3000 BC, the second was built around 2500 BC, and the third between 2100 – 2000 BC. The three temples were built on top of one other. That is a feature of Sumerian temples; the upper (most recent) temple is built on the ruins of the most ancient one when the latter collapses and falls.

Inside the temple, there are still remnants of two altars where sacrifices used to be offered. During the excavation of the area many objects and tools were found; circular dilmunic seals, marble vases, incense burners, goblets made of pottery of different colours, copper weapons, and small pieces of gold.