Besides attracting thousands of Instagram-hungry tourists every year, the 'Azure Window' has also been made famous by its appearance in a number of TV shows and films, including Clash of the Titans, the 2002 re-make of The Count of Monte Cristo, and most famously as the backdrop for the Dothraki wedding in HBO's Game of Thrones. The most famous natural landmark in Malta—a limestone arch on the island of Gozo that framed the pristine waters of the Mediterranean beneath it—is no more. Calling it "heartbreaking," Malta Prime Minister Joseph Muscat wrote on Twitter, "I have just been informed that the beautiful Tieqa tad-Dwejra in Gozo has collapsed. pic.twitter.com/S4XV6MyKRu — Joseph Muscat (@JosephMuscat_JM) March 8, 2017

Reports commissioned over the years indicated that this landmark would be hard hit by unavoidable natural corrosion. “That sad day arrived.”

Hastened by the storm, that sad day arrived much earlier than anticipated. READ: Rough seas chip away at the Azure Window

A three-month geological study published in 2013 had concluded that while erosion was inevitable, the structure was not in imminent danger of collapsing. A resident of the island, who was at the site of the landmark when it collapsed around 9:40 a.m. local time, told the Times of Malta, "There was a big raging sea beneath the window. “Suddenly, the arch collapsed into the sea with a loud ‘whoomph,’ throwing up a huge spray. “By the time the spray had faded, the stack had gone, too.”

The Azure Window enjoyed a renewed jolt of global fame when it served as the set for the wedding of Khol Drogo and Daenerys Targaryen in the first season of HBO’s Game of Thrones.
The gigantic limestone natural arch Azure Window on the Maltese island of Gozo collapses due to a storm.