Vigilo 56

VIGILO D I N L - A R T Ħ E LWA

ISSUE 56

November 2021

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The National Trust of Malta

HISTORY OF THE Casa Leoni

GARIGOR

and its Gardens

Malta's streets & beauty contests

Din l-Art Ħelwa 133 Melita Street, Valletta VLT 1123 T: +356 21225952 E: info@dinlarthelwa.org WWW.DINLARTHELWA.ORG Like our Facebook page and join the group Follow us on Twitter

THE DIN L-ART ĦELWA COUNCIL 2021-2023

FOUNDER PRESIDENT Judge Maurice Caruana Curran (1965-1999) EXECUTIVE PRESIDENT Professor Alex Torpiano HON. SECRETARY GENERAL Simone Mizzi HON. TREASURER Martin Scicluna MEMBERS Albert Attard Joe Attard Professor Anthony Bonanno George Camilleri Cettina Caruana Curran Dr Petra Caruana Dingli Maria Grazia Cassar Josie Ellul Mercer Cathy Farrugia Joseph Philip Farrugia Dr Stanley Farrugia Randon Martin Galea Ann Gingell Littlejohn Kenneth B. Micallef Professor Luciano Mulè Stagno Perit Joanna Spiteri Staines HON. LIFE COUNCIL MEMBER Martin L. Scicluna PATRON H.E. The President of Malta

Din l-Art Ħelwa is a non-profit non-governmental organisation whose objective is to safeguard the cultural heritage and natural heritage and natural environment of the nation.

Din l-Art Ħelwa functions as the National Trust of Malta, restoring cultural heritage sites on behalf of the State, the Church and private owners, and managing and maintaining these sites for the benefit of the general public.

Din l-Art Ħelwa strives to awaken awareness of cultural heritage and environmental matters, through a policy of public education and by highlighting development issues to ensure that the highest possible standards are maintained and that local legislation is strictly enforced.

DIN L-ART ĦELWA HAS RECIPROCAL MEMBERSHIP WITH: u The National Trust of England, Wales and Northern Ireland u The National Trust for Scotland u The Barbados National Trust u The National Trust of Australia u The Gelderland Trust for Historic Houses u The Gelderland ‘Nature Trust’ u Manx National Heritage

DIN L-ART ĦELWA IS A MEMBER OF: u Wirtna – Our Legacy u ICOMOS – Malta u Europa Nostra u The International National Trusts Organisation (INTO) u The Heritage Parks Federation u Qantara u Future for Religious Heritage Association

THE VIEWS EXPRESSED IN VIGILO ARE NOT NECESSARILY THOSE OF DIN L-ART ĦELWA

EDITOR Petra Caruana Dingli DESIGN Ramon Micallef COVER IMAGE Ġgantija, Gozo - Daniel Cilia Text and images copyright © the authors and the publisher Din l-Art Ħelwa Printed at Gutenberg Press Ltd, Gudja Road, Tarxien GXQ 2902, Malta Vigilo - ISSN – 1026-132X Number 56 - November 2021

ViGiLO - Din l-Art Ħelwa

IN THIS ISSUE

ISSUE 56 • NOVEMBER 2021

Editor’s Note

FEATURES Casa Leoni and its Gardens in Santa Venera: Viewpoints from the 1930s - Conrad Thake

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Casa Manresa: The Archbishop’s Curia

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Ġgantija - Isabelle Vella Gregory

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Reversing the Damage: The Qolla l-Bajda Battery in Gozo - Stanley Farrugia Randon

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Travertine, Copper and Deep Sea Blue: The Sacred Auditorium at Blata l-Bajda

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Il-Bebbuxu tal-Majorka: Tracing the History of the Garigor - Edward Cuschieri

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A String of Fortifications: Trekking along the Victoria Lines - Joseph Galea Debono

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Monument to a Surgeon at the Upper Barakka Garden in Valletta - Denis A. Darmanin

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OPINION Construction and Culture: Baukultur and Malta - Alex Torpiano

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Malta’s Streets and Beauty Contests - Godfrey Baldacchino

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Restoring Balance between People and Nature: Ecocide and Climate Change in Malta - David Marinelli

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NEWS - PROPERTIES - PEOPLE INTO visits Din l-Art Ħelwa

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Launch of Din l-Art Ħelwa Għawdex

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St Jerome back in his niche at Our Lady of Victory church, Valletta

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Restoration Report - Stanley Farrugia Randon

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Sunsets, owls and dark sky nights: Summer at Dwejra Tower in Gozo - Simon Wallace

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Short News

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From the Din l-Art Ħelwa Archives - George Camilleri

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Vigilo People

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Mattia Preti’s St Michael the Archangel’s Victory Over Evil Restored

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ime has raced by and this is already the fourth issue in our new series of Vigilo. We are very pleased to present to you another magazine packed with features and news. Din l-Art Ħelwa is always on the go, initiating fresh projects and completing others, while constantly welcoming new people who reach out and join us, putting their shoulder to the wheel to preserve and promote the beauty of our islands. Soon after the founding of Din l-Art Ħelwa’s Mellieha section, in June another regional committee was set up, this time focusing on Gozo. This move reflects the growing grass roots movement of people concerned by the short-sighted over-development of the lovely island of Gozo, that is steadily destroying the charm of its villages and countryside. Din l-Art Ħelwa also recently launched its Code Red initiative, forming a core group focused on the global climate emergency. In October, Din l-Art Ħelwa hosted representatives of the International National Trusts Organisation and the National Trust (UK), who visited sites held in trust by Din l-Art Ħelwa in both Malta and Gozo. Other initiatives included the restoration of two important paintings: a 17th-century painting by Mattia Preti at Sarria church in Floriana, and the 18th-century painting of St Jerome at Our Lady of Victory church in Valletta. This issue includes features on Casa Leoni and its gardens in Santa Venera, the megalithic complex of Ġgantija in Gozo, the history of Qolla l-Bajda Battery in Gozo, trekking along the Victoria Lines, and a monument at the Upper Barakka Garden in Valletta. We also feature research on the history of the ‘garigor’ spiral staircase, and showcase two projects which were awarded prizes in the XV edition of the Din l-Art Ħelwa Architectural Awards, Casa Manresa in Floriana and the Sacred Auditorium at Blata l-Bajda. Three essays focus on Baukultur, Malta’s streetscapes, and climate change. As usual we include a report on recent restoration works undertaken at Din l-Art Ħelwa properties, select a snippet from our archives, and share some experiences of our dedicated volunteers.

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The Erardi ceiling revealed after restoration by Din l-Art Ħelwa

DIN L-ART ĦELWA HERITAGE SAVED

TEN YEARS AT OUR LADY OF VICTORY CHURCH To mark ten years of Din l-Art Ħelwa’s guardianship of Our Lady of Victory church in Valletta, we are planning a fully-illustrated publication to be launched in 2022.

Din l-Art Ħelwa would like to thank the many sponsors and individuals who have come forward to make this publication possible, including Alf Mizzi Foundation, Farsons Foundation, GasanMamo Ltd, INDIS Malta, Izola Bank plc, John Ripard and Son Ltd, Medserv plc, RICLIN Pharma Ltd, Sullivan & Sullivan Ltd, The Strickland Foundation, Vodafone plc, and PwC Malta.

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Casa Leoni

and its Gardens

I N S A N TA V E N E R A

VIEWPOINTS FROM THE 1930s

by Conrad Thake

Aerial view of Casa Leoni, Santa Venera in the 1930s, showing the entire extent of the gardens.

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he history of Casa Leoni, Santa Venera is welldocumented. It was constructed in 1730 by Grand Master Antonio Manoel de Vilhena (r.1722-36) as his summer residence in the tradition of the Italian villa suburbana, offering during the hot summer days a most welcome respite from the stress of living in a densely-populated urban area. It was built on the outskirts of Ħamrun, now forming part of Santa Venera, and facing a segment of the Wignacourt Acqueduct. Casa Leoni features prominently in a fresco at the Grand Master’s Palace in Valletta, whereby the artist presents us with an elevated frontal view that depicts it within its rural setting and with the old parish church of Birkirkara in the background.

Casa Leoni ranks as one of the finest Baroque-era suburban villas constructed during the eighteenth century alongside Villa Bologna, Attard; Villa Preziosi and Villa Gourgion, Lija. It was designed by the Order’s French resident military engineer, Charles François de Mondion (1681–1733).1 Mondion is primarily renowned for implementing Vilhena’s ambitious urban renewal of the entrance to Mdina including the Magisterial Palace, the design of Fort Manoel on Manoel Island, and several imposing military gateways that were erected within the landfront

fortifications of Mdina and Cottonera. The external appearance of Casa Leoni is restrained in terms of explicit architectural decoration.

One should note that it was not designed with the intention of impressing the masses. It was a rather modest building in terms of size, with sparse architectural decoration, and the main focus being its extensive landscaped gardens.

Sir Harry Luke, who together with his wife, Joyce Fremlin, resided in Casa Leoni throughout his tenure as Lieutenant Governor of Malta (1930-38)2, writing in Malta: An Account and an Appreciation, described the building as follows: Nowhere is his domestic taste more happily in evidence than in the country-house – in this case a genuine villa in the Southern European sense – which he constructed for himself in the small parish of Santa Venera. It is a house simple in style, as plain and unadorned as Baroque can be, almost its only embellishments being four square-rumped stone lions from his coatof-arms – to whom it owes its popular name of Casa Leoni of Dar il-Lyuni, [Dar l-Iljuni] the House of the Lions – statant on the terraces of the low wings that curve towards the road.

And a country-house it was in every sense of the term at the time when he built it. Now that the populous casals of Ħamrun and Birkirakara have spread into the background, the front entrance to the house stands in a built-up area, on the main artery which connects the island’s new capital with the old.3

Fresco depicting Casa Leoni at the Palace in Valletta.

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Above: Cabreo plan of Casa Leoni (National Library, Valletta) Below: Front façade of Casa Leoni.

The gardens of Casa Leoni The main attractions of Casa Leoni are the extensive landscaped gardens that were designed in the spirit of the grand manner of Baroque absolutism. The walled-in gardens are organised in accordance to a strict hierarchical sequence, symmetrically laid out along the central passageway that runs continuously from the main forecourt through the internal reception hall, all the way to the very end of the gardens. A detailed watercolour drawing of Casa Leoni and its gardens forms part of the

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‘Cabreo of the Fondazione Manoel’4 within the archives of the Order of St John at the National Library, Valletta. The corpus of drawings in the cabreo were prepared and collated during the magistracy of Grand Master Vilhena, probably under Mondion’s direction.

The gardens are organised as a series of walled-in land compartments situated at the back of the villa. There were three main components; the first compartment was the Giardino Vecchio with its trapezoidal configuration (one of the side walls being at an oblique angle) subdidived into four quadrants with a circular fountain placed along the main passageway; a doorway set within the back wall led to the so-called Giardino Oblongo, which was flanked on both sides by smaller and separate walled-in spaces referred to as Giardinetto a Sinistra and Giardinetto in Dritta; the third and last compartment, was the Giardino in Figura Amphitheatrale which had a parabolic form and was the largest in terms of area. From the cabreo drawing one can make a number of observations regarding the nature of the landscaping. It appears that the Giardino Vecchio had the highest coverage of trees, there were also a number of trees lining the perimeter of the individual parterres within the Giardino Oblongo together with a continuous line of trees (probably cypress trees) along both sides of the central pathway in the Giardino in Figura Amphitheatrale.

Harry Luke depicts in vivid and colourful prose, the state of the gardens in the 1930s: For before him stretched as far as he could see, sloping gently downward , a perfect eighteenthcentury Mediterranean garden of seven or eight acres in three separate compartments, each compartment bounded by high walls of creamy stone rich with the architectural flourishes and decorations of the period. Through the ornamental arches topped by Manoel’s shield of lion and winged sword, which gave access from one compartment to the other until they were blocked up after the war, appeared in enchanting vistas – vistas of orange- and tangerine-trees, in due season fragrant with blossom and heavy with golden fruit at one and the same time; of slender cypresses rearing their deep-green columns against the azure sky; of spring-time double narcissus and jonquils richly yellow, delighting eyes and noise alike; later, of masses of sweet-scented stocks along the foot of the walls, perfuming the evening air. In the middle of the topmost compartment is a graceful Baroque fountain, and in all the right places are carved stone benches supported by curved and friendly dolphins.5

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Harry Luke and the management of the gardens

Casa Leoni Santa Venera

Construction of Casa Leoni to the design of the architect and military engineer Charles François de Mondion; summer residence of Grand Master Antonio Manoel de Vilhena and subsequently other grand masters.

Document One - Letter to Public Health, 1931.

the winter agricultural products derived from the gardens.10 Presumably the list was drawn up by the tenant farmer himself and a copy was forwarded to Harry Luke. The rich variety of vegetables grown within the landholding is impressive, to say the least. The list of agricultural products is as follows:

Summer products: potatoes, beetroots,

During the French blockade, Casa Leoni served as the command base for the Maltese insurgents National Congress Battalions, a special grenadier company known as Granatieri set up to guard the headquarters.

Residence of Col. George Whitmore and his family.

19301938

1820s

carrots, spinach, lettuce, leeks, sea kael, vegetable marrow, long marrow, celery, cucumbers, tomatoes, Maltese turnips, radish, onions, sage and asparagus, horse

17981800

1730

TIME LINE

From this description one can surmise that the gardens were well attended to and cared for.

Beyond the beauty and enchantment of these gardens, there was an underlying meticulous and efficient management that ensured that the land was well maintained. Shortly after Harry Luke had established his residence at Casa Leoni, there is correspondence dated to November 1931 with the Public Health Office stating a list of specific measures to be undertaken in order to prevent mosquito breeding.6 These measures included the periodic emptying of water reservoirs, the application of a film of paraffin on the water surface in certain cases, and the provision of having tight-fitting covers to the open reservoirs.7 (See Document One).

On 1 February 1932, Harry Luke entered into an agreement with a certain Alexander Farrugia, presumably a farmer who was granted tenant’s rights to cultivate and maintain the gardens at Casa Leoni.8 The agreement goes into a lot of details specifying the obligations of both parties, including clauses relating to the apportionment of the sale of the various agricultural produce, an obligation to maintain the gardens, and also specifying the party which would bear the expense for the supply of seeds, water, and manure, amongst others.9 The full text of the agreement is being reproduced in Document Two. Amongst the personal correspondence of Harry Luke within my collection, there was attached to this agreement a tattered sheet of paper with a handwritten list divided into two columns, one listing the summer and the other

Residence of Lieutenant Governor Harry Luke and his wife, Joyce Fremlin; 1945+: Museum Department depository.

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Document Two - Agreement between Sir Harry Luke and Alexander Farrugia, 1932 (private collection).

Casa Leoni was included in the Antiquities List (1925) and its current status is that of a Grade 1 national monument, National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands.

Residence of Col. George Whitmore and his family

Converted into a Museum

1968

c1955-

1952

From the terms of the agreement a portion of this produce was for the needs of the Luke family household (purchased at half the cost price) whereas the bulk was to be sold on the open

1945+

Portrait of Sir Harry Luke by Edward Caruana Dingli (Museum of the Order of St John, London)

Government primary school

Restored and used as accommodation for visiting dignitaries

Various government departments and Ministry of Education and Culture

PRESENT

globe artichokes, beetroots, carrots, spinach, celery, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, enclive, kale, parsley, beans, peas and radish, lettuce, swiss chard, cabbages, leeks, English turnips.

1980s

Winter products: potatoes, artichokes,

market and the proceeds thereof shared equally between the tenant farmer and Harry Luke. Luke was amply satisfied with this state of affairs as can be gleaned from an advisory note penned by him in his handing-over letter to his successor: A word about the garden of Casa Leoni, your official residence. The gardener there is more or less adscriptus glebae and his family have been there under many Lieutenant-Governors. I enclose a copy of my agreement with him which is identical with the agreement between my predecessor Best and the gardener’s namesake and predecessor.11

19771978

radish, parsely, creole, French beans, cabbages, klechley sweet, Burpee’s peppers.

Offices of the Ministry for Sustainable Development, the Environment and Climate Change

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proposal to intervene in the casa leoni gardens

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n May 2021, plans were announced by the Ministry for the Environment and Climate Change to ‘upgrade’ the Romeo Romano gardens, Santa Venera. Some of the photomontages that were presented seem to suggest that a part of the garden (outlined in orange on the below aerial photograph) would be transformed into a landscaped play area for children. Although the project appears to be currently on the back burner, the proposals as presented should be rescinded out of hand on the basis of the following:

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The gardens of Casa Leoni are one of finest examples of eighteenthcentury Baroque gardens in Malta based on a hierarchical arrangement of walled-in compartments, central axis and uncompromising symmetry.

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The whole ensemble of gardens should be preserved as one integral whole.

No piecemeal development should be entertained. Any conservation programme should be based on the principle that this is a holistic entity.

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The area indicated for the formation of a play area is the Giardinetto di Sinistra and is an integral part of the gardens. The clearance of trees and vegetation, and its substitution with conventional artificial turf or otherwise and planters runs counter to the spirit of the place.

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One cannot justify the proposed intervention (the ‘play area’) by stating that only constitutes a small fraction of the entire garden area. This is not a question of quantity or the extent of the intervention but it is of paramount importance that the garden ensemble be preserved as one entity.

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The gardens should be preserved in full respect of its architectural and cultural value. The historical memory of the gardens needs to be respected.

During these times, of heavily-congested urban environment, these gardens provide a green lung to the local community and visitors alike. It should be retained as a place for quiet relaxation and tranquility. Any proposal should ensure that these qualities are respected to the full.

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‘Adscriptus glebae’ is the Latin term from Roman law meaning ‘a tenant tied to the soil’, which would be equivalent to the local term, qbiela which status confers legal rights to the occpuant farmer to cultivate the land and sell its produce, whilst paying a nominal rent.

However, it appears that soon after Luke’s departure from Malta, the lease agreement pertaining to the garden was not renewed.

An entry in Governor Bonham Carter’s diary dated 31st Janaury 1940,12 stated that he was making arrangements for the garden to be taken over by the Agricultural Department at once. The reasons for this decision are not clear although during this time a major renovation project for Casa Leoni was then in process.

Performances at the gardens The gardens were also, at times, used for entertainment and cultural events. On one specific occasion in June 1937, Harry Luke, in his role as chairman of the Malta Amateur Dramatic Club (MADC), hosted one of their performance based on extracts of plays by William Shakespeare. One of the invited guests wrote the following vivid account of the event: It transpired that a feature of this event, if not the object, was the giving by local amateurs of extracts from Shakespeare. We were told that all was ready and we were to descend to the garden, where an experience awaited us which for sheer beauty I had not known before. This is an old garden of stone, flowering trees, terraces and exquisitely scented herbs. Carefully, in the dark we made our way to the scene of the plays, where a number of people who had not been at the dinner were sitting in a semicircle facing a floodlit terrace and the circular stone stairs that descended from it.

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It would not have mattered had this been the chef d’œeuvre of the evening, but much more was to follow. A prologue was read by Sir Harry Luke, followed by a recital by a costumed man of what was to come. The Merry Wives of Windsor, Twelfth Night and As You Like It were the plays from which parts were to be taken. Now and then a fiddle was played somewhere in the darkness or a woman player stood unaccompanied and sang Elizabethan songs. Lights cleverly placed gave an effect which it is hard to describe, the masses of rosemary at our backs adding still more to the beauty of it all. A brilliant moon hung in a cloudless sky to complete this conspiracy of loveliness. The acting reconciled me to an amateur caste.13 Governor Bonham Carter was also in attendance and made the observation in his diary, that ‘the circular steps leading to his kitchen garden made a very perfect Elizabethan stage and the acting by Miss Warren, Miss Smith (Rediffusion Broadcasters) and the two sailor wives was very good.’14

Conclusion From this account it transpires that the gardens of Casa Leoni were in the 1930s well managed and administered both in terms of landscaping and the cultivation of agricultural produce. The experience of hosting cultural performances within the unique setting of the garden was also one appreciated by all those who attended. The gardens need to be valorised more and made more readily accessible to the local public.

However, in doing so it is imperative that both its historical memory and ethos as a place of tranquility and being in touch with nature be safeguarded to the full. n

Three entries in the Timeline on pp.6-7 were amended in the digital version of this article.

NOTES: 1. Denis De Lucca, Mondion: The Achievement of a French Military Engineer Working in Malta in the Early Eighteenth Century (Malta: Midsea Books, 2003); 2. Conrad Thake, ‘Sir Harry Luke (1884-1969): Loyal Servant of the British Empire’, in Lino, a Tribute: Festschrift in Honour of Lino Spiteri, ed. by D. Fenech, V. Fenech, J.R. Grima (Malta: PEG, 2008), 337-5; 3. Harry Luke, Malta: An Account and an Appreciation, 2nd ed. (1949; London: George G. Harrap & Co., 1960), 192; 4. Conrad Thake, ‘The Cabreo of the Fondazione Manoel’, in Treasures of Malta 3:1 (Christmas 1996), 47-52; 5.

Luke, 193; 6. Official correspondence, Sir Harry Luke documents (private collection); 7. Ibid.; 8. Luke documents; 9. Ibid.; 10. Ibid.; 11. Ibid.; 12. John Manduca (ed.), The Bonham-Carter Diaries 19361940 (Malta: PEG, 2004), 454; 13. Luke, 193; 14. Manduca, 165.

Architect Conrad Thake is associate professor in the Department of Art and Art History at the University of Malta

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Casa Manresa

THE ARCHBISHOP’S CURIA The recently restored façade of Casa Manresa, the Archbishop’s Curia in Floriana, received a Din l-Art Ħelwa award for Architectural Heritage in 2021. This restoration and conservation project earned the prestigious Prix d’Honneur in its category. Michael Pace Ross, Administrative Secretary, Roberto Buontempo, Head of Property, and perit Daphne Fenech from CREAID received the award on behalf of the Archdiocese of Malta.

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he Archbishop’s Curia is housed in Casa Manresa in Floriana. This baroque building originally stood on a high ridge with an unobstructed view of Marsamxett Harbour.

Casa Manresa began as a one-storey retreat house with a height limit of 24 palmi, as decreed by the Order of St John in 1744.

It has a wide main frontage and included a semi-basement floor underneath the entire building complex. The building was eventually extended at first-floor level, comprising two large halls. The major structural intervention, and the addition of the first floor, commenced in the 1860s.

On St Calcedonius Square, Casa Manresa has an imposing main entrance with a pair of columns on either side, above an external flight of stairs. Over the main door there is an intricate sculptural group of Our Lady holding the child Jesus, flanked by St Paul the Apostle and St John the Baptist, the patron saints of Malta and of the Order of St John.

The detailing of the rest of the imposing façade was never completed. Only two windows at ground floor level are complete with sculpted sills and lintels.

History of the building Works commenced in 1743 on land bought with the proceeds from the sale of a house that Balì Fra Giovanni Battista Spinola had bequeathed to the Jesuits to be used as a retreat house. The edifice reflected the architectural tendencies of the time when the baroque style had reached its peak and developed into the rococo style. It was completed in 1751, and was opened in 1753 by Pier Francesco Rossignoli, a Jesuit priest born in Novara in Italy.

The retreat house was shut down in 1768 after the expulsion of the Jesuits from Malta, and the building subsequently passed into the hands of the Diocese of Malta. A ceremony dedicating it to Our Lady of Manresa was held on 16 March 1771. The chapel, which houses the relics of St Calcedonius, was consecrated

by Bishop Labini on 23 July 1786.

In 1798, Casa Manresa was taken over by the French as barracks for 600 troops. These were replaced by troops from the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily when the British entered Floriana on 4 September 1800. Casa Manresa was repaired and restored to the clergy in 1802. However the outbreak of the Napoleonic

The building has a wide main frontage and was originally a onestorey retreat house

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The Archdiocese of Malta in recent years has stepped up its efforts in various parishes to ensure that Catholic heritage is restored for present and future generations.

Wars in May 1803 halted the evacuation of the garrison, and in 1813 Casa Manresa was used as a military plague hospital. The last battalion left Casa Manresa in 1853.

In 1858, Bishop Gaetano Pace Forno transferred the Major Seminary from Mdina to Casa Manresa, where it remained for the greater part of the twentieth century. When the Jesuits returned to Malta in 1860, they occupied the building until 1918. Between 1860 and 1867, the Provincial Curia of the Sicilian Province was domiciled at Casa Manresa.

The building complex suffered extensive damage during the Second World War, and it was later restored and modernised. Once the Seminary moved to Tal-Virtù in Rabat in 1977, the Curial administration of the Archdiocese of Malta moved to Casa Manresa from the Archbishop’s Palace in Valletta.

The restoration project The conservation of the main façade of Casa Manresa was the first phase of a project which will include the restoration of all the façades.

Planning for this restoration project started in 2017, when studies were commissioned to survey the existing condition of the masonry fabric of the exterior façades. Built in various distinct phases, the different areas of the building exhibited different pathologies and deterioration mechanisms. The orientation of the building, its proximity to the sea, and the changes in the urban environment surrounding it, all played a part in the aging process and created unique manifestations of deterioration which required scientific studies and testing.

Interventions included the application of biocide, chemical cleaning using paper poulticing, mechanical cleaning using

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microblasting and surgical knives, repairs through the injection of specially designed mortar mixes, plastic repair, stone changing, consolidation treatments, and the repointing of mortar joints where necessary. Furthermore, the inclusion of protection components, such as protecting cornices and ledges with traditional deffun mortar, and the design and implementation of an easy maintenance plan will ensure the longevity of the results obtained through the initial capital investment.

The restoration of the façade was financed by the Archdiocese of Malta, following the approval of the Diocesan Finance Committee presided by Archbishop Charles Jude Scicluna.

A new lighting system Following the rehabilitation works of the main façade, a new lighting system was inaugurated at Casa Manresa on 24 July 2021, on the feast day of St Calcedonius. The restoration of the side façade of Casa Manresa on Triq Oliver Friggieri (formerly Triq l-Argotti) was also inaugurated. Melloncelli srl, based in the province of Mantova in Italy, were entrusted with the lighting system.

The lighting project was also financed by the Archdiocese of Malta, which in recent years has stepped up its efforts in various parishes to ensure that Catholic heritage is restored for present and future generations. n Michael Pace Ross, administrative secretary of the Archbishop’s Curia, noted that the next phase of the project is the restoration of a house situated in Triq l-Iljun corner with Triq Vincenzo Bugeja, which is linked to the Curia and will eventually be transformed into an evangelisation hub.

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ĠGANTIJA ISSUE 56 • NOVEMBER 2021

by Isabelle Vella Gregory • Photography: Daniel Cilia

As development threatens Ġgantija, Isabelle Vella Gregory explores the fascinating and complex landscape of Ġgantija and surrounds. The impressive megalithic complex is part of an extraordinary human story that is at risk of being lost.

Once upon a time there was a giantess who lived on Gozo. People would see her carrying large stones on her head. She carried her baby in a sling, a basket of flax and beans in her pocket. They saw her carrying stones while eating beans and sorting flax.

(Adapted from Fr Manuel Magri)

Entrance South Temple

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All megalithic sites were placed at very specific points in the landscape.

he story of a giantess is perhaps one of the most compelling folk tales. Picture this, a very tall woman who is not only imbued with superhuman strength, she is also able to tend to her child while sorting flax and snacking on beans… and of course carrying megaliths to build Ġgantija. In other versions of the tale she is credited with building a round dwelling at Ta’ Ċenċ, a large building at Borġ l-Għarib, and many more.

Mostly, she is seen as a giantess carrying stones but what the stories do not necessarily reflect on is the fact that this woman designed, planned and built a number of buildings around Gozo, all while tending to her child.

We do not know whence she came, but we most certainly know where she ended up – and in between we have the roads she travelled.

Her most famous building is Ġgantija.

Interestingly, Magri does not record similar tales about the Maltese sites – did a giantess also build Ħaġar Qim or Tarxien? What we do know, however, is that these complex buildings have been lodged in consciousness for thousands of years, long after they were built. Commonly called temples, these stone complexes were built and maintained over a long period of time and as evidenced by folk tales and a number of other sources, they never disappeared completely from memory.

The folk tales make one thing clear: the giantess was not just focused on Ġgantija - she created a whole landscape. Glimpses of this world survived in folk tales and later in art (for example the wonderfully evocative watercolours

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by Charles de Brochtorff), and they have been gently teased into being at the trowel’s edge.

While you might think of Ġgantija and other places as monuments, generations before us thought of them as places that are alive.

They spent an enormous amount of time and effort in creating these places, enlarging them and lovingly maintaining them over many years. They were not simply ‘places’.

The anthropologist Tim Ingold speaks of dwelling, as distinct from building. Dwelling is so much more than building say, a block of houses or apartments and living in them.

It is about having a deep connection and relationship with the entirety of the place around you, beyond your own four walls, and actively engaging with the world around you.

Disentangling the complex of Ġgantija, we have two ‘temples’ contained within a common external wall. Construction started c. 3600 BCE and continued until the so-called end of the Late Neolithic. Ġgantija, like other megalithic sites, was rooted in a dwelling perspective from the outset. It was not placed there by accident.

Indeed, as Reuben Grima has shown, all megalithic sites were placed at very specific points in the landscape. Indeed, he shows that the sites played a role in structuring the natural divisions in the landscape. In other words, people were very much conscious of the land they inhabited and they built this series of megalithic buildings in a way which transformed the physical and social geography of the Maltese Islands.

This group of figurines played a central role in the performance of complex belief systems.

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Late Neolithic life, however, was not merely about these sites and Ġgantija offers one of the most clear demonstrations of an incredibly complex physical and cosmological landscape.

Looking around Ġgantija, there is the Għar ta’ Rejżu to the southwest, and some 45 m north there is the North Cave. Both contained traces of human activity. Some 400 m to the southwest of Ġgantija, there was the main burial complex, known as the Xagħra Circle.

Once again standing in Ġgantija and gazing to the south, there was another temple under the present Xagħra Church (incidentally, recorded

by Fr Magri), and c.700 m west of the Xagħra Circle there are the still visible remains of the Santa Verna temple. Much like the folk tale of the giantess tells us, Late Neolithic Gozo was a very busy landscape. Ġgantija, magnificent as it is, did not exist by itself. What makes this landscape so interesting (and valuable) is that it encapsulates the many stages of the human life cycle. In one small corner of the world, we have settlements (granted until now these are fleeting traces), Megalithic buildings and burials. Within temples we find a vast array of objects, many of which are fairly (and wonderfully) mundane, for example stone tools and plain pots. We also find a number of evocative figurines – these also appear in burial places. Life and death are inextricably linked not just by buildings and material culture, but by a landscape that has a strong sense of dwelling. Indeed, the prehistory of the Maltese Islands is remarkable precisely because it captures these cosmological beliefs.

Starting c.3600 BCE we see not just the emergence of a new architecture, but a new of way of thinking about the world. Temples are built with the intention of being a lasting place in the landscape – enlarged and maintained over a long period of time. They are placed at specific points in a landscape that plays an active role in human life.

These rituals and beliefs become increasingly complex, reaching a floruit in the Tarxien phase.

Temples themselves were a hive of activity – not just in terms of different rituals, as seen by the use of different altars and hearths, but also in terms of material culture. Many have traces of outbuildings. We find traces of burnt food and commensality is a powerful tool in establishing and maintaining social relations. Not only were these activities crucial for the present and future, they also hinged on the next generation continuing to sustain these practices. In turn, subsequent generations honoured the memory of their ancestors.

From the Xagħra Circle we learn that death was a complex and drawn-out affair. To modern eyes, it might seem really macabre.

But while we now favour swift burials, in the Late Neolithic people took their time to come to terms with life and death. The site, like other places, has a long life history, with the earliest burials dating to the Middle Neolithic (long before temples were built). In the Late Neolithic it is transformed from a series of natural caves into a monumental site, surrounded by a retaining wall and with striking architectural features inside.

Map of Xagħra with archaeological sites

Temples are built with the intention of being a lasting place in the landscape - enlarged and maintained over a long period of time.

Basin on South Threshold

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Two early 19th-century depictions of Ġgantija and the Xagħra Circle

by Charles Frederick de Brocktorff (National Library of Malta)

Burial is not just communal, it involves breaking the body into its constituent parts.

To achieve this, it meant returning to the site a number of times. It meant waiting for the body to decay naturally and then carefully taking it apart. Skeletal remains are not haphazardly thrown across the site; they are arranged in neat piles of skulls, long bones and residual elements. They are placed there with care.

In some areas there are individual burials, perhaps acting as an anchor to the rest. The living did not simply remember the dead: they touched them, they moved them, they smelled the decaying flesh.

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The living ensured that all the funerary rites were completed; that the departed became part of the collective memory. This process was not restricted to the funerary site.

Consider this: the Xagħra Circle is part of a broader landscape encompassing Ġgantija, Santa Verna, the temple beneath the Xewkija church, Ta’ Marżiena, Borġ l-Imramma and others. This is precisely what anthropologists mean by a dwelling perspective - and these ideas are echoed in our folk tales.

There is more. Late Neolithic dwelling also included a rich visual culture - a remarkable repertory of figurines ranging from the minute to the monumental, from the excessively large and sexually ambiguous to detailed female forms and phalli. Perhaps the most evocative is the (incorrectly named) Shaman’s cache from the Xagħra Circle. This group of nine limestone figures has nothing to do with shamans, in truth it is much more interesting.

Originally bundled and buried together, these consist of six figurines referencing the human form, three small but intriguing figurines and a small bowl. The ones referencing the human form have sometimes been described as ‘unfinished’. Far from being unfinished, they encapsulate the human body in its different stages of existence. Consider this: they are part of a society in which life and death exist on a continuum, where the end does not come with death. Indeed, upon biological death one starts a process of being reassimilated into the community of the living and the dead.

Such rituals are complex and require time and energy. As we know from anthropology, human beings engage in all sorts of rituals – whether to mark the passage into adulthood or from this world to the next. These are not just significant moments in a person’s life, they are also times of transformation. They can also be dangerous if procedures are not followed in the correct order. Rituals are of fundamental importance for a community, whether they mark the entry of a child into its religious community by baptism, or the annual celebration of a saint or indeed passing between this world and the next.

The Xagħra figurines evocatively show these transformations, with the smaller ones perhaps representing that liminal stage when someone is neither human nor an ancestor, hence the human faces on a small pillar. The head of a pig is particularly intriguing and can be viewed as a companion or protector animal for one’s journey perhaps. Let us not forget that the duality between animals and humans is a modern invention and indeed we have plenty

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Reconstruction of the Xagħra Circle superimposed on an aerial photograph

of evidence for a complex relationship between animals and humans in the Late Neolithic (see for example the animal friezes at Tarxien).

More importantly, each figurine shows signs of use. Each one was handled multiple times. Each could be held in the palm of one’s hand or inserted in the soil. This group of figurines was immensely powerful. It did not simply tell the story of life and death, it enabled its re-enactment. Each figurine could be moved in different directions, combined and recombined with others to tell the most powerful of stories. And when the biography of these figurines was complete, they were tied together with string and carefully deposited as Ġgantija South portal at night

Ġgantija South from inside

a group. We may not know what led to that final event, but these figurines remain one of the most powerful and evocative materializations of cosmology in the world.

At some point, the complexities of Late Neolithic life were forgotten; but glimpses survived into folk tales. It is perhaps appropriate that this collective landscape was attributed to a single giantess, the literary archetype for creation. As traces of this landscape of power and memory continue to shrink, we would do well to fiercely guard what is left – because what we have is not simply a series of monuments but one of the most evocative stories of human life. n

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Ġgantija South first apses from wall

Ġgantija site with examples of neighbouring development applications marked in red

The Xagħra Circle is part of a broader landscape encompassing Ġgantija, Santa Verna, the temple beneath the Xewkija church, Ta’ Marżiena, Borġ l-Imramma and others.

Ġ

gantija is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and and Grade 1 monument. The main temple lies within a ‘Site of Archaeological Importance’, designated to ensure its protection.

Yet the boundaries of this archaeological site are under constant threat from new and excessive development, burgeoning beyond acceptable limits.

These concerns include applications that involve building blank party walls impinging on views encircling Ġgantija, increases in development density, and excavation for garages or swimming pools. Besides the temples themselves, overdevelopment in the area negatively impacts the relationship between the site and its context.

The construction boom in Gozo is gradually destroying the character of the island, and also affects its archaeological heritage which is of world importance.

South entrance from inside

REFERENCES: Reuben Grima, ‘The Landscape Context of Megalithic Architecture’, in Malta Before History: The World’s Oldest Free-Standing Stone Architecture, ed. by Daniel Cilia (Malta: Midsea Books, 2004), 327-45; Reuben Grima, ‘Landscape, Territories, and the Life-Histories of Monuments in Temple Period Malta’, in Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 21:1 (2008), 35-56; Tim Ingold, The Perception of the Environment: Essays in Livelihood, Dwelling and Skill (London and New York: Routledge, 2000); Tim Ingold, Being Alive: Essays on Movement, Knowledge and Description (London and New York: Routledge, 2011).

Isabelle Vella Gregory holds a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge.

She has worked in the central Mediterranean and is currently Deputy Director of excavations in Jebel Moya, Sudan.

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REVERSING THE DAMAGE The Qolla l-Bajda Battery in Gozo

by Stanley Farrugia Randon

Built on a promontory between Qbajjar Bay and Xwejni Bay in Gozo, this gun battery is semi-circular, partly ringed by a parapet (with six embrasures), and its gorge occupied with two blockhouses linked together by a short loopholed wall containing the main gate. The flanks of the blockhouses overlooking the main entrance into the battery were pierced with musketry loopholes. A low flight of steps provided access, via a wooden drawbridge, to the main entrance.

A sea-filled moat protected the seaward front of the battery. The Qolla l-Bajda battery has undergone considerable alterations to its structure, including some carried out to convert it into a catering and entertainment venue.

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Construction

By the end of the 18th century many redoubts and batteries in Gozo were either abandoned or else were in an unserviceable state.

The construction of the battery was ordered in 1715 by French military engineers headed by Brigadier Louis François d’Aubigné de Tigné and Charles François Mondion as second-incommand who visited the islands to enhance the defences of bays.

As in the case of other works carried out on various fortifications, towers, batteries and entrenchments, detailed costings were listed for the construction of parts of the Qolla l-Bajda Battery. These included excavation works for the ditch, different parts of the parapet wall (parapetto) including the part with the embrasures (parapetto a troniere), the gun platform (piateforma), the counterscarp (contrascarpa), the walls of the blockhouses, partition walls (muri di tramezzo), the roof slone slabs (balate di copertura) known as xorok in Maltese, the walls around the doorway, stones for the platform (plataforma), the terrace (terrazza), the arches, the cistern, the water canals and the stairs. These works cost 823 scudi 2 tarí and 17 grani. It is interesting to note that the French engineer Philippe Maigret also presented his estimate of costs to see if it compared well with the approved estimate of works. This practice is still used today to compare a bill of quantities with an estimate of costs prepared by the appointed architect to the estimates presented by the contractors.

Entrenchments (irregular walls erected along places accessible to enemy embarkation) were also proposed at Qbajjar in conjunction with the battery and at Xwejni in 1715 by the Grand Prior of France, Philippe de Vendôme, who joined the military engineers in July 1715.

The battery was armed with six 9-pounder cannon but early reports claim that there was no store of gunpowder, thus rendering the battery useless for defensive purposes. In 1761 it was reported that there were six 9-pounder cannon but in 1770 it was documented that there were four 6-pounder cannon. It was suggested to replace these with 8-pounder cannon. There were 276 cannon balls, 60 gun

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shots, 55 supplies of gun powder, 12 guns with bayonets, 4 spontoons and 2 spingards.

In 1785 the recommendation to supply the battery with 8-pounder cannon was accepted and the battery was armed with these cannon.

By the end of the century many redoubts and batteries in Gozo were either abandoned or in an unserviceable state. The batteries of Qolla l-Bajda and Ras il-Qala were the only two equipped with gunpowder and the others had to transport it from the Gran Castello in case of an attack.

The French in Gozo In 1798, with the arrival of the troops commanded by General Vaubois, the majority of Malta’s fortifications were already finished and were not used to withstand a French enemy, also because most of the commanders of the troops were French knights. The senescalc who commanded the militia of the villages was Prince Camillo de Rohan. In Malta his lieutenants were Balì Tomasi and Suffren S.Tropé, the latter being in charge of the coast. Gozo was commanded by the knight Misgrigny de Ville Bertein. No wonder the French attack on the islands was a walkover!

Napoleon invaded the island of Gozo on 10 June 1798 and landed in Daħlet Qorrot.

The guns of Sopu Tower, which is in shooting range of the bay, opened fire to prevent the French army from disembarking. General Reynier, who was in command of the French, reported that at the point of landing selected between Sopu Tower and the battery of Ramla, enemy fire from the cliffs killed Sgt Major Bertrand who was in the general’s boat. The French replied with heavy bombardment from the vessels Étoile and Pluvier. Apart from this landing, the French were not known to have encountered any other resistance in Gozo.

Given the presence of the Order of St John, Malta constituted a true bastion of the European continent, able to offer strong resistance to the advance of Ottoman power in Western Europe. The Maltese fortifications

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Despite all mechanisms to protect our heritage and historic places, the battery underwent extensive alterations when it was used as a bar and night club.

The underground space created for a nightclub

Roofing and other structures constructed to increase the indoor space above ground

including its coastal defences exemplify the most advanced theories for defence, but all this did not prevent the French from taking over the island with very little resistance.

The nineteenth century However the French occupation of Malta lasted only two years as in 1800 Britain assumed the role of defending Malta. After the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, when the French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated, the Maltese provincial battalions, the Malta coast artillery and the battalion of Maltese veterans were disbanded and an infantry regiment called The Royal Malta Fencible Regiment was formed. Lieutenant Colonel Count Francis Rivarola was entrusted with the regiment.

In April 1825 the three rooms of the Qolla l-Bajda battery were whitewashed, one entirely while the other two to the height of about 12 feet. The terraces and the greater part

of the pavement of two of the rooms had to be renewed while two stone arches and the terrace of the other room were repaired. Other restoration included renewing the roofing stones and terrace of the kitchen as well as repairing the steps in front of the entrance. It is presumed that the kitchen is the two-storey building situated close to the saltpans on the Eastern side of the battery. It was a common practice to have a room outside a defensive post to use as a kitchen.

In September 1827 inspections were carried out in different fortifications and recommendations were documented to improve the state of maintenance of the properties. On the Qolla l-Bajda Battery, the inspection concluded that: ‘Three rooms require to be whitewashed and their terraces repaired, as also a window in one of the rooms – the cistern requires also to be repaired’. In another report dated 11 February 1829 and written by Col. George Whitmore, who headed the Royal Engineers Office between 1811 and

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Qbajjar Battery in the 1960s

Qbajjar Battery 1990 (above) and 1993 (below)

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1829, it is reported that the ‘Kollha Baydha’ was built ‘for the fortification of the little cove on the North of the Island called Muyeg il Bahar – circular and enclosed at the gorge by two barracks communicated by a loopholed wall – it is occupied and in bad condition’.

He wrote that restoration required 505 cubic feet of masonry, 70 square feet of pavement, 450 square feet of roofing, 180 square feet of platforms and 4,500 square feet of pointing. It also required four doors and two shutters as well as repairs to other doors still in place. It is interesting to note that in old maps Qbajjar bay is referred to as ‘Muieg il-Bahar’, referring to waves of the sea (mewġ meaning ‘waves’ in Maltese).

A detailed map drawn by Don Felice Cutajar, a Maltese priest, and dated 1833 gives us the names of the coastal towers, batteries, entrenchments, and with the quantity of guns to be found in the coastal defences. In this map, the Maltese priest noted that there were six cannon on site. The nearby Qolla s-Safra battery was armed with five cannon.

Subsequent visits by Royal Engineers reported that there were still six iron cannon which were however unserviceable, and there was also some ammunition on site.

During World War II the battery was manned by reserve police constables as Observation Post No 5.

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More recent developments

Extensive alterations to the original fabric

In 1978 Qolla l-Bajda Battery was leased on temporary emphyteusis for 25 years and transferred in 1981 to Rook Limited for use as a bar, but it was converted into a discotheque after about five years. It served as a disco for about six years but was then abandoned.

Unfortunately considerable additions to the structure of the place were made at that time, including an underground space to increase the dance floor. Photos from the early 1990s show that the roofs of the two blockhouses had collapsed but were repaired using concrete when the battery was used as a restaurant towards the end of the 1990s. In 1999 the Planning Authority apparently issued an enforcement order for illegal structures which were erected but nothing was done to revert the damage. The Planning Authority included the site in the National Inventory of the Cultural Property of the Maltese Islands, and the site was scheduled as Grade 1 in 1995.

In 2003 the lease expired but the tenant refused to return the land to the government despite an eviction order by the Lands Department. Not really aware of this legal struggle, the non-governmental organisation Din l-Art Ħelwa, which had expressed its interest in restoring the battery on various occasions, was informed by the government on 7 September 2007 that it would evict Rook Ltd from the battery and hand it over to Din l-Art Ħelwa. The previous owner however went to court seeking a precautionary injunction against the eviction on the basis of lack of fair hearing. The legal struggle went on until 2021 when Din l-Art Ħelwa was informed by the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage by letter dated 6 May that the Minister responsible for Cultural Heritage had recommended that it is granted in guardianship to the association.

The Lands Authority was also notified by the Superintendence for the battery to be transferred to the Superintendence. The latter has requested Din l-Art Ħelwa to start preparing the preliminary documentation.

Despite all mechanisms to protect our heritage and historic places, the battery underwent extensive alterations when it was used as a bar and night club. The external flight of steps was constructed in 1981 when the place was transferred to Rook Limited. An underground space was created comprising a central large area for people to socialise and dance. This was accessible through an opening under the outside staircase or else through a flight of stairs from the landward side of the gun platform. Two other underground rooms, one on each side of the central one, were used as a sitting area and as a kitchen. Toilets were also installed close to the seating area. The underground kitchen communicated with the right-sided blockhouse above ground via a spiral staircase as this was also used as a kitchen. As stated already, the blockhouse on the right was converted into a kitchen and its walls were tiled all round. The blockhouse on the left was used as a sitting area but part of it was enclosed with a dividing wall and used as a toilet. This toilet was tiled halfway up. The wall between the two blockhouses was not tiled but trenches were dug internally to pass a number of cables and pipes.

The outside gun platform was not spared.

The parapet wall was tiled and the original embrasures where the cannon used to lie were covered. The inner area between the two blockhouses was roofed with concrete and this roof was extended over part of the gun platform. Limestone columns were erected on the platform to further support this roof on the seaward side. This further increased the indoor area when it was used as a night club and a restaurant. Arches were built of limestone on the sides and back part of this area and closed with glass windows. Doorways were opened in the back parts of both blockhouses for easy access to this area. The outside room which was used as a kitchen during the British period was not modified but a space was dug underground close-by and divided into two rooms by a wall.

This space was probably used for storage.

Din l-Art Ħelwa intends to restore the building above ground to its original state. This will not be an easy job as most accretions will have to be removed. n Research copyright: Stanley Farrugia Randon

Stanley Farrugia Randon is a medical doctor and a council member of Din l-Art Ħelwa

Din l-Art Ħelwa intends to restore the building above ground to its original state.

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TRAVERTINE, COPPER ANDTheDEEP SEA BLUE Sacred Auditorium at Blata l-Bajda This project was awarded a Special Commendation (Category C - Restoration and Conservation Project) in the XV edition of the Din l-Art Ħelwa Architectural Heritage Awards

‘Architecture is art when one consciously or unconsciously creates aesthetic emotion in the atmosphere and when this environment produces well being’ Luis Barragan

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The design concept The concept was built on three main elements.

The base of the space – which had to be seamless and warm; the ceiling – which had to be something dynamic and functional; and an overall design that respects and connects with the chapel situated right behind the auditorium stage. The chapel is dedicated to St George Preca and was designed by Professor Richard England.

The base of the auditorium looks as though it is carved of stone, making visitors feel grounded yet close to an earthly material.

Besides the beauty of travertine that develops over time, another natural element – water – passes through travertine and leaves its mark within the stone. This symbolizes the audience, absorbing what is being delivered from the stage.

A pattern, like pixels diffusing outwards into the audience, is cut out of the travertine and fades out towards the back of the stage.

This also represents the information that is

being projected from the stage and which is received in silence throughout the auditorium.

The welcoming and enveloping effect of the honey-coloured travertine is successful in its simplicity, with ancillary elements such as doors and speakers incorporated seamlessly within the stone panelling.

The balcony overlooks the central part of the auditorium, with its elements chosen to almost diffuse into each other, disappearing as a sort of void or background in between the travertine base and the copper ceiling.

One of the biggest challenges was to make such a large space seem intimate and welcoming. Since this is a sacred space, the atmosphere to be experienced by people within the space was very important in the design. The travertine was used to accentuate the curvature of the walls, as though the walls were hugging the central space.

The honey-coloured travertine, together with the deep sea blue walls above and reflective copper ceiling all work together to achieve the warm and welcoming feeling.

One of the biggest challenges was to make such a large space seem intimate and welcoming.

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The eye rests on a cross of light shining mysteriously through the celestial blue drapes.

The ceiling Before this renovation, the ceiling of the old auditorium was a dull, flat pane of generic ceiling tiles. With this canopy, the architects introduced an architectural element which is bold and dramatic yet appropriate for this space. The curved, organic form of the new suspended ceiling drops gently towards the stage and recalls a traditional baldacchino while at the same time focusing attention on the end of the space: a location with multiple functions and meanings. At its simplest the eye rests on a cross of light shining mysteriously through the celestial blue drapes; at its most

prosaic the eye falls on a projection screen that can be lowered from the ceiling.

The most moving configuration is experienced when the end wall is drawn aside to reveal the wax effigy of St George Preca and the chapel beyond, where he is buried in the crypt. This provides a spiritual fulcrum for both spaces. If, on its own, the auditorium embodies a language of simple modernism, once the serene presence of St George Preca is invoked the auditorium provides a timeless setting which is also appropriate for prayer and contemplation. n

The Society of Christian Doctrine (M.U.S.E.U.M.) was founded by St George Preca in 1907, with the aim of teaching the Catholic faith to children, youths and adults. The society is spread among parishes all over Malta and Gozo, and is also established internationally. It has a strong cultural presence in Maltese society. This auditorium was intended to be a celebration and a milestone in the history of the Society.

The Sacred Auditorium project was carried out for the The Society of Christian Doctrine (M.U.S.E.U.M.)

by Atelier Maison and was led by architects Katja Abela, Paula Agius Vadala and Marilyn Camenzuli.

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Il-Bebbuxu tal-Majorka

TRACING THE HISTORY OF THE

GARIG R

by Edward Cuschieri

The garigor is found within all building types in Malta and has provided a common experience for most of the inhabitants for centuries. However its attributes are not widely understood.

G

lorified by Andrea Palladio in his first treatise I quattro libri dell’ architettura in 1570, the garigor mainly owes its success and widespread use to its utilitarian purposes, as there is no other safer method of climbing up and down that can be accommodated within such a small vertical volume.

Nevertheless, this creative and unique construction is more than a spiral staircase functioning for movement: the introduction and implementation of its open-eyed central void allows for lightness and vision for the users. In other words, the garigor is an unparalleled practical and beautiful geometric solution, and is different from its rudimentary predecessors as spiral staircases.

I quattro libri dell’architettura, Andrea Palladio

Traditional spiral staircases date back to classical times. The earliest one documented dates to around 480 BC within the remains of a temple in Selinunte, an ancient Greek city on the south-western coast of Sicily.

One of the earliest known Roman influential designs was discovered within the central part of the colossal Trajan’s Column, dating to approximately the first century BC. However, all these early staircases held a central straight and vertically plumb column, called the newel, around which the steps rotate. The garigor’s elaborated geometry evolved where the newel would now also spiral, leaving a void in the centre.

Stairwell from I quattro libri dell'architettura, Andrea Palladio

Solid newelled spiral stairs

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Spiral within the Castel Nuovo, Naples

taken in Tomar in Portugal. My attention was immediately captured by the fascinating staircase on which she was posing, so much so that I stayed awake until the morning hours investigating the building she had visited.

It transpires that this intriguing spiral staircase is located within a stronghold that once belonged to the Knights Templars, who transformed themselves into the Order of Christ in the fifteenth century following their condemnation by the king and pope.

The pope’s decree, however, allowed the properties of the Templars to be transferred to the Knights Hospitallers and this gave rise to the building’s eventual embellishment. The wealth of the knights was clearly on display here through the latest architectural fashion and intervention.

The garigor is an unparalleled practical and beautiful geometric solution

A typical Maltese garigor

Some years back, while studying an old early eighteenth-century building, I came across its owner, a prominent knight called Ilderis whose family was from Bitonto, an Italian town near Bari in Apulia. In around the 1720s, Ilderis (or Ildaris as he was known in Malta) built for himself what may have been one of the earliest specific agro-architectural buildings in Malta. The building was modelled on his own masseria in Italy, a building typology commonly found in the southern regions of Italy. Within the developments of both properties he built what we would call a garigor, and which he described within historic documents as a ‘caraco’. This is where my intrigue was captured, due to its similarity in intonation and melody.

Some years later, an Instagram image pops up in the middle of the night when a friend showed me an image she that had

Portuguese garigor, Convent of Christ, Tomar (courtesy of Gary Williams)

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The garigor's birthplace, La Lonja in Palma de Majorca (Patrimonio Nacional Spain)

Garigor in La Lonja, Valencia, Spain

Within this complex, a masterpiece was constructed, an exemplary king of garigors.

This Portuguese garigor is located around the courtyard of the Convent of Christ and was designed by no other than ‘the architect of Portugal’, Juan de Castillo, in around the 1530s.

Looking at the ceiling of my bedroom, I decided to look for its design origins. My research started with a thesis based on the geometrical study of the evolution of types of helical staircases. Among this very interesting reading, it was noted that one of the earliest renowned helical staircases is located in a building in the port of Palma in Majorca. This particular model of garigor, conceived by Guillem Sagrera between 1435-46, was designed within one of the turrets of a coastal building called La Lonja.

This represented Majorca’s merchant’s guild and is located on the coast in an area aptly called the Paseo de Sagrera. Further readings based on a history of spiral staircases all referred to such garigors, as what had become known in the trade as a ‘caracol’.

Casa Correa by Carlo Gimach showing the prolific use of the domestic 'Garagolo', 1689 (National Library Malta)

Influenced by this creation in Majorca was another example of garigor, designed by the master Pere Compte at La Lonja of Valencia between 1482 and 1498. This is said to be the first helical staircase built in the whole Iberian Peninsula. Valencia is therefore possibly the second birthplace of the Spanish garigor.

In Spain, this type of staircase was coined as the ‘Caracol de Mallorca’. It came to be applied in all types of buildings, and was fully developed in the early sixteenth century.

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Are there any garigors that predate the Order’s arrival in 1530 in Malta?

The garigor looks like a snail’s interior, therefore it came as no surprise that a Portuguese architect, a colleague at the office, was quick to mention that caracol actually means snail in Spanish and Portuguese. But what about the earliest garigor in Majorca where Catalan is the spoken language?

Named caragol, we find the ‘c’ here has been transformed into a ‘g’, which was not an unknown migration over time. A similar example here would be the Latin word cattus which in medieval Latin read as gattus. It eventually develops into gatto in Italian or gato in Spanish and Portuguese. In Maltese, it was transformed into qattus.

An early Majorcan manuscript by Joseph Gelabert called this type of staircase a ‘caragol ull ubert’, meaning ‘open-eyed spiral staircase’.

Incidentally, the same architect spread his influence in Italy in the 1450s, while carrying out significant works in Naples within the Castel Nuovo. This Angevin gem treasures a magnificent garigor.

Presumably, as the first garigors in the Iberian mainland date back to just before the turn of the sixteenth century, it is possible to date the introduction of the garigor in Malta to the time when the Order of St John made Malta their home a few decades later. Still in use as a reference in the late seventeenth century we find, among the archives for the 1699 refurbishment planned for the Inquisitor’s palace in Birgu, the term caragolo. In the 1734 Cabreo of Vilhena there is a reference to a property built for a grand Portuguese nobleman in 1689, the Balì of Lesa Fra Antonio Correa de Sousa, which terms its secondary spiral staircases as garagolo.

Here we find the transition of the garigor housed in a square well, as opposed to its predecessor with a cylindrical well. When did this transition first start to take place?

Initially housed within military constructions the surrounding walls were built as robustly as possible, with a circular design being the strongest of forms protecting crucial vertical

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Original Plan of Jesuit's College, Valletta, 1590s (Bibliotheque Nationale de Paris)

circulation. However, when the garigor migrated in use to more ‘domestic’ building typologies, rectilinear housing wells, being an easier and more economical building procedure, soon became the norm. As their specific construction became well known, their use within buildings as secondary staircases became prolific throughout the island. Early and rare examples of cylindrical welled garigors in Malta can be found within Verdala Palace by Girolamo Cassar, the Jesuit College in Valletta by Francesco Buonamici, and at Palazzo Stagno in Qormi, all designed in the late 1500s.

Could the garigor have been brought over to Malta earlier, by the Aragonese within the short window of time before the Order of St John came to the island? This is unlikely but not inconceivable. Are there any garigors that predate the Order’s arrival in 1530 or do we only find their dark and rudimentary Gothic cousin? The research is still ongoing. n

Edward Cuschieri is a design director at AP Valletta.

He studied at the Kent Institute of Art & Design, UK, and before joining AP he worked with design firms in London and Milan.

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A STRING OF

FORTIFICATIONS Trekking along the Victoria Lines

by Joseph Galea Debono

Some years back, in the company of Professor Anthony Bonanno, I started trekking along various sections of the extensive defence work known as the North West Front, constructed by the British in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Eventually we delivered a series of joint lectures at Din l-Art Ħelwa’s Maurice Caruana Curran Hall, in which we traced the path of the infantry line and the fortifications and other archaeological and historical sites along its entire length. This article captures some of my impressions of these walks.

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n the first decades of their presence in Malta, the British were quite satisfied with the fortifications built by the Order of St John around the Grand Harbour. But, as the importance of the naval base grew, particularly after the opening of the Suez Canal, and with the fast pace in the development of artillery, their military engineers felt the need to secure the entire harbour area from landward bombardment and attack by building outlying perimeter fortifications to keep a potential enemy as far away as possible from the concentration of military installations and urban conglomerations around the Grand Harbour.

After years of proposals, counter-proposals, plans and reports, the military experts decided to build a string of fortifications along the Great Fault, a prominent geological feature which bisects the island in half, isolating the central and southern areas from the north-

west segment with its numerous bays and inlets, which were very prone to landings by an enemy.

Work on this new line of defence began in earnest in 1874 with the building of three forts in very strategic locations, namely Fort Bingemma at the western extremity, Fort Mosta in the centre and Fort Madliena at the north-eastern edge of the Great Fault. In 1895, work was started on a continuous infantry line linking the three forts, smaller batteries and the Dwejra Lines. As by 1897 – the year of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee – the works were far advanced, the whole length of the fortifications was named in honour of the Sovereign.

This article is limited to the stretch of the works from Baħar ic-Cagħaq to Targa Gap in the centre of the island.

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Infantry wall snaking down and up Wied il-Faħam

After years of proposals, counterproposals, plans and reports, the military experts decided to build a string of fortifications

Most of the works were either hewn into the living rock; usually the hard upper coralline limestone and built of the same material; cut, shaped and dressed by Maltese manual labour, using muscle power and grit in very exposed and dangerous positions, without the aid of modern tools and machinery. Indeed, although the plans and designs and the survey of the land were done by the Royal Engineers, these works are a monument to Maltese craftsmen and labourers who carried them out, and, if anything, they should be conserved and restored for this reason if not for any other. The project provided employment and sustenance to hundreds of Maltese over a span of a quarter of a century and therefore must have had a positive economic and social impact on Maltese society of that period.

For many years much of the 12-km-long patrol line lay abandoned and ravaged by the forces of nature and vandals. However, in recent years more awareness of the importance of this defence line was created by the publications of Stephen Spiteri and Ray Cachia Zammit. The Friends of the Victoria Lines have a website dedicated to imparting knowledge about them and several local councils and Ambjent Malta have, from time to time, embarked upon restoration and cleaning projects of certain sections of the path.

The Lines Starting from the north-east coast, above Baħar ic-Cagħaq, the first trace of the infantry wall one comes across is that flanking the road that branches off from the Coast Road up to Madliena Heights, roughly at a point above Madliena Tower which was built by the

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Aerial view of Fort Madliena

Order of St John in the seventeenth century.

Regrettably this wall has been breached in several places to provide access to a number of villas.

In most places the wall is composed of an outer face and an inner one of ashlar blocks of coralline limestone with rubble infill in between. A coping, sloping outwards tops the width of the wall. On the outer face it is bound together by a sort of mortar composed of a of a mixture of lime and coal dust (xebha) which served to cement the blocks together and eliminated handholds and footholds for scaling by the enemy. In a few stretches it is dry-stone walling, a rubble wall with smooth outer and inner faces. It is normally about 1.5m high to enable soldiers to fire their rifles over it, at the same time exposing themselves as little as possible to enemy fire. In places the wall is topped by a row of loopholes affording yet more cover to the defenders.

On reaching the top of Madliena hill one can either turn left and walk up to the glacis surrounding Fort Madliena, which is now a pleasant pine grove, or else drive up the asphalted road leading to the entrance of the Fort.

Fort Madliena This fort is the only one of the three main forts which is set back from the infantry line by some 200 metres. At a height of some 400 ft (122m) above sea level, it dominates the skyline and the north-eastern shoreline for miles around.

Like other fortifications of the period, it has a polygonal trace and was very low lying. It was ready by June 1880. Its entrance was over a Guthrie rolling bridge which spanned the 22ft (6.71m) deep dry ditch and led into an outer

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parade ground which was separated from the inner one by a large casemated traverse which was used as stores and casemated barrack blocks. The ditch was defended by five 32-pounder smooth bore breach-loading guns firing through embrasures in four counterscarp galleries.

Originally the fort was to be armed with rifled muzzle loading cannon mounted on hydropneumatics gun mountings. Later, however, 6-inch guns were installed and, when heavier artillery became available, a further extension to the fort was built on the seaward outside and beyond the original ditch and two emplacements for 9.2-inch guns, complete with underground gun crew accommodation and ammunition magazines were built. During the First World War the fort’s main armament consisted of the newly installed 9.2-inch guns and the 6-inch guns, but the latter were discarded during the inter-war period. These guns saw action during the Second World War on a number of occasions when small enemy sea-craft laying minefields or probing the shore defences were sighted or picked up by radar at extreme range, which was some 14 miles (22.5 km) out to sea. They were still in position in the early 1950s and I still have vivid recollections of them menacingly perched on Madliena Heights during our Sunday drives.

When the guns were dismantled in the midfifties, the Royal Air Force took over the fort and installed a radar station with a huge Type 80 scanner mounted just outside the fort. This became a landmark in its own right for many years until shortly before the British withdrawal in 1979. It was at this time that further accretions were made to the fort on the landward side, thereby changing its low-lying profile. Later, the Fort was placed in the care of St John’s Rescue Corps who still use it as their base for training of volunteers and storage of equipment.

San Giovanni quick firing battery Retracing one’s steps to the crossroads, after skirting a row of recently built villas, one reaches the edge of the cliff and the infantry wall. At this point, perched above Wied ilFaħam, lies the site of San Giovanni Battery which was constructed between 1884 and 1887. Its armament consisted of two 6-pounder quick-firing guns, mounted ‘en barbette’ on concrete gun platforms which are still in situ today. These emplacements had inbuilt box recesses for the storage of ammunition. An underground expense magazine, accessible down a rock-hewn flight of steps, was excavated a few metres away.

Wied il-Faħam Leaving the battery, if one follows the wall, which although well preserved is hemmed in by the back walls of the villas which have been built far too close to this historical structure, one is nonetheless rewarded by the dramatic view of Wied il-Faħam and the patrol line snaking down to the bottom of the ravine and across a stop wall with loopholes for rifle fire and with two openings underneath for the flow of rain water in the valley below. The wall then winds up to the other side of the ravine passing by the still well-preserved building housing what was the Defence Electric Light engine room or generator. It was intended to supply power to a searchlight emplacement a few metres away which is now in ruins.

During the war this area was defended by the 1st Battalion of the Royal Irish Fusiliers. Up to some years ago their Regimental Badge still graced one of the outer walls of the building.

Sadly, however it was either destroyed by vandals or appropriated by some hidden hand.

Arrow indicating point of missing regimental badge. Photo provided by Dr Patricia Camilleri

Although the plans and designs and the survey of the land were done by the Royal Engineers, these works are a monument to Maltese craftsmen and labourers who carried them out.

San Giovanni battery

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Restored loophole wall at Tarġa Gap

For the faint-hearted who do not want to attempt the steep descent down the valley sides and the equally daunting climb by the infantry wall on the opposite side, one can retrace steps to the asphalted road, crossing the arched masonry bridge which spans Wied id-Dis. But the well-motivated trekker will surely brave the walk by the wall up to the searchlight emplacement on the promontory nowadays popularly referred to as ‘Top-ofthe-World’ and to the people of Gharghur as ‘Ġebel San Pietru’.

Gharghur high angle battery Before savouring the delights and disappointments of the walk along the now being restored infantry wall at Ġebel San Pietru, one cannot omit referring to the Gharghur high angle battery situated at the top end of Wied id-Dis Valley and reached through an attractive woodland off the arched masonry bridge mentioned above. The complex formed an integral part of the defences of the Victoria Lines, although it is situated about one kilometer behind the infantry line. The battery is bounded by a low perimeter wall abutting on the lane with a guard room at the entrance gate built in the rusticated style typical of British military buildings in Malta.

There are barrack rooms, stores and a battery command post built in the same style close to the entrance. The guns were situated at the rear

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of the complex trained to fire as Howitzers, lobbing shells over the ridge at targets down in the Magħtab and Burmarrad plains below the Lines and the North-East coastline. The trajectory of the shells would be over part of Gharghur village and Ġebel San Pietru heights.

The battery was built in the plan as sketched by Dr Stephen Spiteri, the leading authority on British fortifications in Malta, for his book British Military Architecture in Malta. It consisted of six, 10-inch, rifled muzzle-loading guns deployed in a row flanked by ammunition stores. There were also underground magazines dug into the ridge in front of the guns and gun-crew rest rooms on both sides of the gun line.

Construction of the battery began in 1899 and ended a year later. The guns were in place by 1901. According to Dennis Rollo in The Guns and Gunners of Malta, the battery was kept in service long after the Victoria Lines fell into disuse and it served right through the First World War; its armament being reduced to four guns by then. During the Second World War it served for a time as the operational headquarters of coast artillery or Coast Control. Between the 1970s and 2004 it served as a residence for leprosy patients. The complex now sadly lies abandoned and the entire site is showing signs of neglect.

Ġebel San Pietru On reaching the searchlight emplacement above Wied il-Faħam, there is a platform intended to take a mobile field gun or Howitzer.

From there, a wide path flanks a long stretch of the infantry wall which is broken at another point by a similar gun platform. This walk used to provide magnificent views of the Baħar ic-Cagħaq and Magħtab areas and stretched all the way to Gozo. Unfortunately, this view is now marred by the rubbish mountain at Magħtab and the ever-expanding residential area of Baħar ic-Cagħaq and an industrial estate further to the west, all built on former agricultural land.

Wied Anġlu or Gharghur Ravine

Precious stretch of wall at Wied Anġlu

The infantry line then reaches a dramatic and precipitous gorge at Wied Anġlu where it appears that another field gun battery was to be positioned. Here steep rock-hewn steps lead down to the bottom of the valley where the infantry wall has disappeared in some parts, particularly over the stop-wall, rendering the way quite perilous. Steps again climb up the

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Restored stretch of loopholed wall at Tarġa Gap

opposite side and at the top the path creeps along narrow ledges between the precipice and clumps of overgrown vegetation on the inward side. However, those who do not want to face certain risks, can walk along a tarmacked road which skirts the ravine and leads to a point parallel to the continuation of the infantry wall on the far side.

Naxxar Gap The infantry line extends all the way to San Pawl tat-Tarġa where a number of redoubts built by the Order of St John in the eighteenth century stand on both sides of the road leading down to Burmarrad. At this point the infantry line wall is no longer traceable but a scarped ditch running parallel and below the redoubts is still evident. The British infantry wall then extended to Wied Filep where the entire area including its fortified bridge has been devastated by quarrying all the way down to Wied il-Għasel Valley. Here the stop wall was swept away in a terrible flood occurring in October 1979 and only three archways survive.

Rock-hewn steps on the far side again lead up to the plateau dominated by Fort Mosta.

Fort Mosta At a height of some 280 ft (85.4m) above sea level, Fort Mosta was intended to be the linchpin of the entire north-west front. It followed the polygonal low-lying trace with an inner keep surrounded by a ditch protected by counterscarp musketry galleries armed with two 24-pounder smooth bore carronades. The ditch was crossed by a Guthrie rolling bridge leading to the main entrance and a courtyard bordered by casemates, which originally housed 64-pounder muzzle loading guns firing from embrasures. On the roof of the keep there was a gun flatform for a field gun.

At a later stage, two gun emplacements for 6-inch breach-loading guns together with their underground magazines and gun-crew shelters were constructed on the outer perimeter of the fort. However, there is no record of any of the fort’s original or subsequent armament ever been fired in anger. With the abandonment of the Victoria Lines as an inland defensive position during the early years of the twentieth century, Fort Mosta lost most of its military importance unlike the other two main forts on the Victoria Lines, which were kept in use in a coastal defence role. However, during the Second World War a second Gun Control Room

View of Fort Mosta from Wied il-Għasel

The project provided employment and sustenance to hundreds of Maltese over a span of a quarter of a century.

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in the fort duplicated the main one at Lascaris War Rooms and both were kept in operation to ensure that if one was put out of action, the other would assume control immediately. By the 1940s the fort was used only as a munitions depot; a role it still retains to the present day in the hands of the Armed Forces of Malta.

The Targa Gap segment Loopholed wall and steps to opposite side of Wied il-Faħam

The 1997 re-enactment

Sketch plan of Gharghur High Angle Battery - courtesy of Dr Stephen Spiteri

After skirting round the fort’s outer perimeter, one comes upon a picturesque and relatively well preserved and restored segment of the infantry line which stretches towards Targa Gap. The patrol path here is flanked by the restored wall on the valley side and by Gnien l-Għarusa tal-Mosta on the other side. Its loopholed parapet has been restored in some places and views of Burmarrad Valley, Wied ta’ Għajn Riħana and Bidnija Heights can be enjoyed from this vantage point. In October 1997, an English re-enactment group in Victorian uniforms participated in events commemorating the first centenary of the Victoria Lines here.

What would be a very interesting feature in this segment is the underground nuclear war Civil Defence Head Quarters which lies under the old Civil Defence building and which is reached from a flight of steps just below the infantry wall. Very regrettably, although the gate at the entrance was forced open, we could never venture into the innards of this nuclear shelter as the front room was always littered with all sorts of unimaginable things!

It is indeed a pity that this unique historical underground shelter has been allowed to be vandalised and polluted in this way.

This part of the trek ends at Targa Gap where the Mosta - St. Paul’s Bay road breaches the patrol line and where the plaque commemorating the inauguration of this defence line has pride of place on the outer face of the wall leading to Falka Gap and on to the upper north-west front. n

Sources: R. Cachia Zammit, ‘Malta’s Heritage: The Victoria Lines’; Ibid., ‘The Victoria Lines, Malta’; Ibid., ‘The Victoria Lines: New Edition with a Foldout Map’; J. Mizzi and M.A. Vella, Malta at War, vol. 1 (2001); D. Rollo, The Guns and Gunners of Malta; S. Spiteri, British Military Architecture in Malta; Ibid., The British Fortifications; Ibid., The Fortifications of Malta’; Ibid., The Knights’ Fortifications; The People on Sunday (16 Nov 1997); The Times of Malta (13 Nov 1997).

Joseph Galea Debono is a retired judge and former Din l-Art Ħelwa council member. He has a special interest in Maltese military history and has authored various publications on the subject in local and international media.

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MONUMENT TO A

SURGEON

AT THE UPPER BARAKKA GARDEN IN VALLETTA

by Denis A. Darmanin

Present state of the monument and bas-reliefs today

John Bathurst Thomson was born on 22 September 1813. He enlisted to serve in the 69th (South Lincolnshire) Regiment of Foot on 11 January 1839 as an assistant surgeon, and was promoted to the rank of surgeon on 3 September 1846. From 1847-51, the regiment was stationed in Malta.

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homson was respected for his zeal and his dedication to his patients. He was known to remain on his feet, and at times without sleep, to attend to his patients.

His medical skills saved many from the cholera that hit Malta, but unfortunately it did not spare him. Colonel James William Llewellyn Paxton, who commanded the regiment, even offered him his own quarters which were not far from the military hospital. Thomson died on 18 September 1850, aged 36 years, of cholera at the military hospital in Valletta.1 The draped coffin bearing Thomson’s remains was carried on a gun carriage. It was preceded by a firing party and the bands of the 1st Battalion, 69th Regiment and Royal Malta Fencible Regiment with their drums draped in black. The cortege consisted of Colonel James W. L. Paxton and Lieutenant-Colonel William Blackburne, together with staff, medical staff, brother officers and men from the 1st/69th Regiment, including some wives and personal friends. When the coffin reached the ditch between Valletta and Floriana, the

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Urgent intervention is called for as the bas-reliefs will soon disappear, like others in the same garden, and the monument may not be able to support its own weight. men insisted on removing it from the bier and carried it on their shoulders the rest of the way to Msida Bastion Cemetery, Floriana, for interment in grave number 205.2

The monument

Albert Shako

Detail of metal railing

The monument in the 1980s

The 1st/69th Foot left Malta for the West Indies on 13 April 1851 on the transport ship Bellisle. The regiment had arrived in Malta from Portsmouth on 12 December 1847.3 The non-commissioned officers and men of the regiment had subscribed to have a monument built in his memory4 and the matter was left in the hands of Rev. William Hare and Mr Penrose Julyan5 of the Commissariat Department. The monument at the Upper Barracca Garden6 was designed by W. Martin and made of marble and local stone by renowned marble sculptors Giuseppe Darmanin & Sons7 while the inscriptions in English on the front and in Latin at the rear were prepared by Dr Pirotti8, a Maltese doctor and good friend of the deceased.

Set beneath the second arcade to the left as one enters the garden, the monument lies within an iron railing of equal significance, resembling a palisade and composed of two rows of spears, with one row shorter than the other. Between each spear are the numbers 6 and 9 and a Maltese Cross, which together denote the regiment’s number and its connection to Malta. The monument consists of a large stone pedestal which supports a small tabernacle or temple with four Doric columns, one on each corner. Within is a marble stele with the Thomson family’s heraldic arms on the front and the Rod of Asclepius or Caduceus within a wreath on its rear. At the centre of the stone pedestal there is a marble plaque dedicated to the memory of John Bathurst Thomson in English, while at the rear there is an identical plaque in Latin.

At the base below the plaque is another marble slab with a scene depicting the Good Samaritan or Almoner - an allegory of Thomson’s dedication to the plague victims.

It is likely that this is the only monument in

Right rear panel

Malta that depicts soldiers in the uniform of the period. A very similar monument made of marble exists at Canterbury Cathedral in Kent.9 On each side of the two plaques, at the front and rear, there is a bas-relief panel depicting soldiers of the 1st/69th Regiment wearing the contemporary uniform of the Grenadier Company; their red coatee having white tufted wings at the shoulders and white tape on the front. The two figures at the rear are identical to those at the front but less eroded.

In the 1850s, all ranks wore the red coatee with lace trimmings.10 There were three different designs for these lace strips, that of the 1st/69th Foot being square-ended. The collars, cuffs and shoulder straps were all in the regimental facing colours. At the end of each shoulder strap Centre Companies wore a white worsted crescent or wings; whilst the Flank Companies wore a red wing, laced and edged with white worsted cotton. The same uniform was worn by the Royal Malta

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Regiment.11 The Albert Shako (1844-55), designed from an idea by Prince Albert the Queen’s Consort, had a tuft at the top front, and an oval plate with the number 69 and a small grenade above. Battalion Companies wore a white over red ball, Light Companies a green one and Grenadier Companies a white one. The soldier on the right panel is shown marching at ‘Reversed Arms’, while the one on the left is stationary and ‘Resting on Reversed Arms’. The same two figures are repeated at the rear, flanking the plaque with the Latin epitaph.

Details of the shako with broken tufts

Present condition Little is known of the exact restoration history of the monument in earlier years. The first recent restoration was carried out on the upper marble section in 2006, but the lower section was not included. The pedestal then continued to deteriorate through weathering.

A section from the already eroded basrelief detached itself and collapsed. In 2016, maintenance works commenced on a number of monuments and plaques at the Upper Barrakka Garden, which included repairs to the John Bathurst Thomson monument.

One of the first reactions was to replace the front right bas-relief since it was the most damaged, and a local sculptor was to be commissioned for the task. However, closer inspection revealed that the four bas-reliefs were actually carved on the stone blocks that

formed the corners of the pedestal and on which the whole rested. Instead, the broken section was consolidated back in its place and plastic repairs were carried out.

A recent visit to the garden and an inspection of the monument show that the entire bas-reliefs, and as well as the blocks they are carved from, have deteriorated further. Exfoliation due to weathering and the rising humidity from the garden have caused considerable damage, so that the bas-reliefs have exfoliated and are nearly unrecognisable and there is a possibility that the stability of the monument is in danger. Urgent intervention is called for as the bas-reliefs will soon disappear like others in the same garden, and the monument may not be able to support its own weight. n

NOTES: 1) D.A. Darmanin, ‘The Upper Barracca Garden - Part 1’, vol. 55 no. 217 (August 2004), 2330; 2) W. Bonnici, ‘John Bathurst Thomson MD 1813-1850: An Insight into the Times of a Regimental Medical Officer’, in Journal of the Royal Army Med Corps, 138 (1992), 50-53; 3) H.G. Hart, The New Army List for 1851, cxxxvii (1871) and The Daily Malta Chronicle (various issues); 4) The Times (30 September 1850); 5) P.G. Julyan, 28 Dec 1847, Deputy Assistant Commissary, Commissariat Department, Malta (Army List for January 1851) and British Residents Malta Records (Electoral List 1852) residing at 14 Strada Stretta (Strait Street), Valletta; 6) The Malta Times (18 Nov 1851); 7) J. Muscat, The British and the Darmanin Family of Artists: Decorative Marble Commissions in Nineteenth-Century Colonial Malta (Unpublished MA dissertation, University of Malta, 2019); 8) Voters List, Malta, 1860. Dr Vincenzo Pirotti MD resided at 73, Santa Scolastica Street, Vittoriosa and was the brother of Don Antonio Pirotti of 41 Piazza Vittoriosa, Vittoriosa; 9) Monument to the 19th Prince Albert’s Light Infantry, Canterbury Cathedral, Kent, UK; 10) W. Y. Carman, Richard Simkin’s Uniforms of the British Army. The Cavalry Regiments (1987); 11) A.G. Chesney, Historical Records of the Maltese Corps of the British Army (1897).

Denis A. Darmanin has written widely on military and historical topics, and is an expert in uniform buttons.

A recent visit to the garden and an inspection of the monument show that the bas-reliefs, and as well as the blocks they are carved from, have deteriorated further.

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CONSTRUCTION AS CULTURE

BAU KUL TUR AND MALTA

by Alex Torpiano

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any European languages have imported English words into their daily vocabulary.

There are relatively few German words that have been imported into the English language.

One such word is Baukultur.

In German, words are often composite, formed by the combination of simpler words into a single one, but with a meaning that is more than that of the individual words put together. Baukultur is one such word, even if it is not a particularly long composite word.

Baukultur is often translated roughly into the culture of building. But it is actually much more than that; it is about considering construction as culture, and considering the shaping of our environment, built and unbuilt, as primarily a cultural act.

The term Baukultur is not an alternative word for ‘Architektur’ – architecture – or even for good architecture. In January 2018, ministers of culture of country signatories of the European Cultural Convention (including Malta), adopted the Davos Declaration ‘Towards a high-quality Baukultur for Europe’.

When these European countries signed up to the Declaration, the raison d’être was the realization that there was: a “trend towards a loss of quality in both the built environment and open landscapes”; a “trivialisation of construction”; “a lack of design values”; and “a growth of faceless urban sprawl”. It will quickly be recognised that these concerns are really topical for Malta.

As the same Declaration emphasises, Baukultur is not about beautiful buildings; it is about “every human activity that changes the built environment”. So it is not limited to good architecture, and by extension, it is not about architects, but has to include the roles of many parties, including workers, public authorities, politicians, contractors, the general public, and so on. It is not limited to urban conservation areas, but is conceived to extend to all our living environment, including suburban and rural areas, towns and villages, industrial zones, and road infrastructure.

An environment worth living in Baukultur is about an environment which is worth living in. It is an approach which includes the planning processes for building projects and infrastructures and open landscapes. It includes the process and detail of construction. It is about, the Declaration emphasizes, “prioritizing cultural values over short-term economic gain”.

In order to fulfill the Baukultur objectives

it is necessary that, to the social, ecological and economic dimensions that we are, more or less, familiar with, we should add and prioritise an emotional and aesthetic dimension.

This would mean EVERY activity which is proposed within the built and unbuilt environment, whether it is about putting up electricity poles and bill-boards, or about building roads, or bus-stops. It means that whether the proposed building fulfills development control or height limitations or building regulation requirements or not, the primary criterion against which the proposal is assessed will be cultural, including the aesthetic.

One particularly important statement in the Davos Declaration is that Baukultur is about an investment in the living space of the future.

Baukultur and Malta What about Malta? Perhaps, it would be easier to explain what Baukultur in Malta is not. It is certainly not about urban areas without trees; it is not about bill boards replacing trees lining our vehicular thoroughfares; it is not about electricity cables draped all over our village streets; it is not about broken pavements, leaning lighting or traffic poles.

Let us be clear. In Malta, we are far from understanding Baukultur, let alone embracing it. This does not mean that we do not have any beautiful buildings. But we certainly do not understand the construction process as a cultural act – although we do accept that our forefathers did put up attractive buildings, attractive urban spaces and, indeed, more attractive landscapes, which now form the mainstay of our tourism industry. Our planning and development control processes use the wrong model, because they are conceived as a series of regulations, against bullet point requirements.

This does not mean that, for example, Design Guidelines are not a useful tool.

However, the text, or perhaps the interpretation of these ‘guidelines’ misses the main objective, which is that every contribution to the built environment has to contribute to the visual order and delight – yes, let us have the courage to use the word ‘beautiful’, a word which is unfortunately missing in our planning rules.

This is fundamental to our current well-being, but also to the integrity of the legacy that we are obliged to bequeath to future generations.

In Design Guidelines published a couple of years ago in the United Kingdom, the drive for

Let us have the courage to use the word ‘beautiful’, a word which is unfortunately missing in our planning rules.

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The key to the creation of high-quality Baukultur is to take into account the context of development.

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these new guidelines was literally to put beauty in the heart of design. However, it is important that guidelines are not conceived only for buildings, as they are in our planning system (and not even for all buildings for that matter, because, for example, industrial buildings are exempt from planning scrutiny!).

A specific Sense of Space is created through social fabric, history, memories, colours, and odours of a place, producing its identity and the attachment of people to it;

The context of development

This may sound like an obvious, but too utopistic, vision of what development of our environment should be. But there are some key ideas which are worth embracing. For example, good Governance implies placespecific, and quality-oriented, planning processes, facilitating real public engagement, and inclusive decision-making, rather than behind-the-scenes lobbying with politicians, for the latter to ‘direct’ the Planning Authority – as boasted by a leading developer in a recent media interview, and as exemplified by the sad planning story of the Jerma Hotel Development Brief.

Planning should change from a politiciandriven process, to one that is preceded by public workshops, allowing both public education as well as involvement in discussing planning options. Perhaps this can best be achieved by engaging independent multidisciplinary teams to facilitate a broad debate on the quality of place, as well as by promoting public design competitions, or public reviews.

Functionality requires the promulgation of a good set of performance-based building standards and regulations. It requires a drive to make urban areas more walkable and more bikeable. Respect for the Environment requires us to think of green open spaces, appropriate density, and occupancy of urban areas.

Diversity implies the promotion of shared activities, in contrast to dormitory residential areas, gentrification and ghettoization. Context implies that one does not merely rely on universally and blindly applied building height limitations, but of design proposals which dialogue with the existing qualities and the Sense of a Place. Ultimately, Beauty goes beyond mere façade design, with details of ‘Maltese character’ – a valid aesthetic policy cannot be based on a compendium of acceptable ‘features’ but on an overall contribution to the well-being and life satisfaction of people.

The key to the creation of high-quality Baukultur is to take into account the context of development, that is, the surrounding built and natural environment, and its history.

“High-quality Baukultur is not identical with built heritage quality”, and should not be mistaken as a collection of places “in an inventory, or in a list of monuments”. However, the concept of high-quality Baukultur implies that we should not only protect built heritage, but should integrate “its substance and values in any planning and building activity, making it a valuable part of encompassing Baukultur and preserving it for future generations”.

Recently, the Swiss Federal Office Culture, which was a prime promoter of the 2018 Davos Declaration, published a guide for a Baukultur Quality System, intended to assess and improve the quality of Baukultur in a specific place – of whatever scale. The guide highlights eight criteria, which summary I would like to reproduce below: A place is determined by Governance, based on participatory democracy, with good process and management of places; Functionality addresses the level of satisfaction of human needs and purposes; Respect for the natural Environment with mitigation of climate change contributes to the sustainability of a place; Economy with long life cycle and long-term viability of places is an important component of quality; Diversity ensures vibrancy and social inclusion; The particular spatial Context of a place with its physical and temporal characteristics, such as the shape and design of buildings, neighbourhoods, villages and landscapes, and respect for built heritage has a great impact on the quality of a place;

Finally, places of high quality are authentic and respond to the human need for Beauty.”

Is it too late?

There may be the objection that it is too late for us to adopt these principles, since most of our built areas are now what they are. For a start, I would suggest that development in the large

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The public sector has to lead by example. This includes the promotion of architecture design competitions for all projects funded by public money. areas now added to the developable zones, through the rationalization exercise, should be guided exclusively in accordance with these principles, and not left to the developer/owners to propose more sterile urban residential areas, as has been happening in many places. It should not be the principle of mere ‘ownership’ that determines the form of development, but ‘the public interest for the common good’.

These are some proposals The public sector has to lead by example. No public money should be spent on any project that impinges on the built environment, without being deemed to satisfy a much higher level of cultural and aesthetic criteria. This includes the promotion of architecture design competitions for all projects funded by public money. It includes also having the courage to take decisions that do not glibly put ‘economy’ at the top of the decision-making process. It also includes time for a proper interaction with the public, specifically to raise awareness on the cultural and aesthetic value of the proposed project.

The private sector has to get involved in the design of, and investment in, the public realm within the wider context of their private projects – which are, after all, effectively allowed by the community for the benefit of the community.

The level of skill in our construction operators has to be raised by intensive training and exposure to the concept that any piece of work that they undertake has to be done with ‘love’, as if it were to be located within their

own living room. Current operators have lost what we used to call ‘l-amor proprju’ – the pride in their work – possibly because we have lost the processes of apprenticeships with master craftsmen.

The most important radical change that is required is probably a change in attitude towards the areas that lie outside established urban settlements. These are the areas which we euphemistically call ODZ. In truth, these areas are full of development, from agriculture buildings, to roads, to electricity power cables, to retaining walls. These areas need to be ‘designed’. We do not need policies on what can be built in ODZ (the Rural Policy); we need detailed landscape plans for our countryside.

Finally, our planning and regulatory model has to be re-designed from scratch, to be realigned with the objectives of Baukultur. It has to be taken away from the world of real estate development to the world of culture.

A radical change Effectively, what is proposed is not simply about planning permits, but about a more radical transformation of our construction and building industry. What is proposed is a radical change in our spatial planning philosophy, so that it really works ‘the public interest for the common good’. It is not sufficient to send delegations to these important European meetings, such as Davos 2018, to sign radical conventions, if we then continue to pay lip service to adherence to the principles expounded in these conventions.

Baukultur can indicate a way of not only preserving the legacy of our built and natural environment, but of creating the cultural heritage of future generations, an act that also guarantees the long-term well-being of the people who live in, and who visit, our country. n

Alex Torpiano is an architect, and Dean of the Faculty for the Built Environment at the University of Malta.

He is Executive President of Din l-Art Ħelwa.

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MALTA’S STREETS AND

BeautyContests

by Godfrey Baldacchino

And the most beautiful street is…

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nfrastructure Malta is usually associated with the provision of the necessities of mobility and connectivity; maintaining and enhancing the road network in particular.

However, perhaps to inject some colour into the annus horribilis that was 2020, with all the doom and gloom triggered by a rampant pandemic, the agency organised a competition to determine ‘the most beautiful street’ in Malta.

Sanctuary Street, Żabbar, came first: it is a long and straight street, with a mixed use of residential and small-scale commercial, professional and retail services and facilities, and connecting a square at its south end with the Żabbar Parish Church, dedicated to our Lady of Graces, at its north end (this being the sanctuary after which it is named).

Somehow, the street itself makes up for the absence of a church parvis: none is available in Żabbar. Sanctuary Street has become the main thoroughfare of this bustling town in Malta’s southeast; that honour had previously belonged to Main Street, which crosses the town west to east, connecting the Cottonera via Żabbar to Żejtun. Triq is-Santwarju beat St Anne Street, Floriana; Anġlu Gatt Street, Żejtun; St Paul Street, Rabat; and Republic Street, Valletta, to secure first place in the 2020 version of this ‘beauty pageant’.

The street, remarkably, still mainly consists of two-storey buildings, with façades boasting traditional stone work, wooden doors and closed wooden balconies. It is a functional, busy and vibrant thoroughfare, the site of band marches and pilgrimages, with only one-way traffic and one-side parking allowed, given its rather narrow profile.

I doubt whether this is a coincidence.

Sanctuary Street, along with the other top contenders for this unorthodox ‘beauty prize’, has been spared the ‘uglification’ that has gripped various parts of the Maltese Islands. At the same time, notice that there are no trees at all on this street: a shocking reminder of how conditioned we Maltese have now become not

to expect greenery in our densely peopled and motorised urbanscapes.

I am reminded of another majestic road, one of my favourite choices for sociology fieldwork with my university students, and one that has seen its heyday in another century: I am referring to Victory Street, Senglea. This is a less busy road since, unlike Sanctuary Street, it lies at the tip of a narrow peninsula, and does not lead to anywhere else. It is on this street that Malta’s first ever consumer cooperative opened its doors, thus reflecting the residential prestige of the locality in those days. The cooperative’s shop was run by the Società Operaia Cattolica on 200-202, Victory Street; in August 1919, it had over 400 consumers as members and employed 30 workers.

The topography here is more dramatic than in Zabbar: the street is nestled between two hills, each of which is crowned by a church: the parish church, dedicated to Our Lady of Victory, close to its south end; and the Jesuit church, dedicated to St Philip, at its north end. Here, at least, a few trees are to be found.

I have counted less than one hundred trees in the whole of Senglea’s public spaces: thirteen of these lie alongside the parish church.

A common feature of both streets is that they illustrate the scars of tragedy; but they do so differently. In Senglea, some of the grand properties that housed the local middle class before the 1940s were destroyed by aerial bombardment during the Second World War. Functional but less auspicious and rapidly built buildings, often involving social housing projects launched by the state, have taken their place.

In Żabbar, the tragedy that affected Sanctuary Street was the crash of a Royal Air Force Avro Vulcan bomber on 14 October 1975, killing five crew members and one civilian, Vincenza Zammit, an erstwhile resident of this street. Mercifully, the fifteen houses rebuilt after this tragic accident continue to reflect the architectural form that dominates the streetscape.

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Street View of Sanctuary Street, Żabbar (Google Maps, 13 December 2020)

Function over form – Quality over quantity Functionality has often trumped form in local contemporary infrastructure design. Even historical monuments, like the Hompesch Arch, the last material legacy of the Order of St John in Malta, ‘makes sense’ to contemporary Maltese essentially as a traffic island, guiding traffic through a busy junction connecting Fgura, Żabbar, Żejtun and the Cottonera.

Old buildings, it seems, need to have a valid purpose, a justifiable raison d’être: the mere fact that they are old, even if they are beautiful, seems not to suffice to assure their preservation.

The economic temptations associated with knocking down the ancient and replacing it with modern apartment blocks are tantamount to irresistible. The unprecedented population growth seen in the Maltese Islands in recent decades is often heralded as the strongest explanatory factor for the ongoing construction activity; that it is an industry which is ‘too big to fail’, so significant is its contribution to the national economy, is another.

Surely, taste, quality and aesthetics need not be thrown to the dogs in order to ascertain more housing stock? Men and women do not live by bread alone; nor do they live only inside their home. A creeping awareness and appreciation of the quality of life, and not just the quantity of life, is a welcome signal of a post-materialist citizenry in the Maltese Islands. Evidence of this is the growing political relevance and clout of environmentalism, at both local and national level.

Perhaps the competition for the most beautiful street, launched by Infrastructure Malta, taps into, and is part of, the same growing consciousness? The same could be said for the four works of art that are set to adorn the Marsa Flyover Junction. And a nod in the same direction for the 350-metre, vertical ‘green

wall’, with 27,600 odd plants, installed along the Marsa-Hamrun bypass, now absorbing the toxic carbon of fuel gas emissions, and heralding similar green walls elsewhere. One may always criticise these initiatives as eyewash – are they just a sop to the environment? That may very well be. And yet, I prefer to laud a good idea when I see one; and expect to see even more.

I am aware that concern for the quality of life is growing. The Maltese population has seen its purchasing power triple in real terms over the past 40 years or so; but, with so much liquidity finding its way into people’s pockets so rapidly, the knee jerk reaction has been conspicuous consumption, and the pursuit of ostentatious materiality: property, vehicles and, more recently, pleasure craft.

The traditional parsimony and frugality of the Maltese, and their ‘saving for a rainy day’ has been largely frittered away. But, upcoming generations are more ‘post materialist’: concerned with the absence of open spaces and green lungs; and disgusted with waste in the guise of plastic bottles or aluminium cans that can be found almost everywhere.

The public sector has responded to this reorientation, with at least three out of twenty government ministries in the December 2020 reshuffle explicitly responsible for sustainable development, quality of life, climate change and environmental protection. These, in turn, are expected to drive initiatives that address this concern and consciousness. A virtuous loop should result.

Meanwhile, the other seventeen ministries can certainly chip in and support this exercise more explicitly. Just like MITP has done, with considerable publicity, with its art works, green walls and street beauty contests, even if these are mere sideshows to the main thrust of what this ministry does (which is, largely, to build and maintain the road network). The

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Street View of Victory Street, Senglea (Google Maps, 13 December 2020).

Note post-war public housing on the right

justification for this stance is easy: quality of life, like quality control, is not a matter to be relegated and delegated to a specific ministry or unit. It deserves to be mainstreamed. It is our collective responsibility.

Surely, taste, quality and aesthetics need not be thrown to the dogs in order to ascertain more housing stock?

Here’s the challenge There is, of course, already an ongoing effort in Malta to coordinate actions in order to respond to the Agenda 2030 and its seventeen Sustainable Development Goals, set by the United Nations, and meant to be achieved by 2030. A process to craft Malta’s Sustainable Development Vision 2050 is underway.

Agencies like the Environment and Resources Authority are deeply committed to pursuing a ‘sustainable quality of life’ agenda, as also expressed in ERA’s mission statement. I am myself part of the Sustainable Development Network, set up under Act 10 of 2012, to ‘create a framework through which sustainable development is to be mainstreamed across Government’. And the Government of Malta itself, by virtue of being the government of an EU member state, is tasked to meet the targets of the Annual Sustainable Growth Strategy.

To these efforts, however, can be added a suite of others. Hence, the challenge is set: how can each ministry, and its line departments, creatively engage in ongoing initiatives that also address the quality of life of the residents of these islands?

To each ministry, thus, its own set of challenges. Here are a few suggestions, and using a freewheeling way of thinking that is reminiscent of ‘green hat’ thinking. Some challenges may require cross-ministry collaboration to succeed. (The initials/acronym of the main relevant ministry are in brackets: Government of Malta, 2020):

• How to protect Gozo and maintain its complementarity to Malta, putting more flesh and less rhetoric to the Eco Gozo label? (MGOZ).

• How to promote green finance and support the development of green jobs?

How to support the growing realisation that one need not commute to work every day but can also work from home, in a hybrid mode? (MFE).

• How to encourage voyeurism and ‘augmented reality’ in tourism; with less actual visitations to sensitive sites?

Can consumers be more aware of how sustainably manufactured, built or grown are the things that they buy? (MTCP).

• How to look at the hot issue of undocumented migration not simply as a matter of border security and burden sharing; but also as an opportunity for involving local communities in integration initiatives? Would not such actions help reduce misrepresentations of identity, humanise migrants, and develop happier neighbourhoods? (MHSE).

• How to engender more aggressive initiatives in favour of alternative means of connectivity? Car free days or hours, rotating per locality? Reintroduce bus lanes where they already existed, and more to boot? Have walking paths and bicycle lanes that actually do not stop abruptly (forcing one to scratch one’s head and decide what is to be done with one’s bicycle at that point)? And will there be incentives to transition to electric vehicles? (MTIP).

• Mainstream sustainable development in the school curriculum? Transform all schools into hotspots of sustainability, with benchmarks fostering some healthy competitive spirit amongst students and educators? (MFED).

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Street View of Żabbar Road, Paola (Google Maps, 11 March 2021)

• Invest in a more scientific farming sector?

Encourage upgrades to crop production and crop cycles that can be supported by organic inputs? Promote drip irrigation and greater technological investment to protect and enhance crop yields? Diversify the seafood industry beyond the farming of tuna, sea bass, sea bream and meagre? (MAFA).

• Develop prototype housing that is energy efficient (and inclusive of rainwater capture mechanisms) and sustainably constructed? (MSA).

• Encourage active ageing, with health and wellness programmes organised at community level, in collaboration with local councils? (MSCA).

• Excluding residential homes and hospitals, which are the healthiest communities in the Maltese Islands? Which is the one with the largest proportion of residents aged 90 and over? Which is the one with the largest fertility rate? (MFH).

• Boost research and innovation in all the above? Encourage all the above by targeted research funding? Especially now that Malta, finally, has its first ever dedicated ministry for research and innovation (let me pose this as a statement, rather than a question). It is time to really pull up our socks here: in 2018, total national expenditure on Research and Development amounted to €74.6 million, or just 0.6 per cent of GDP. (MRIC).

Let us also remember that Malta is a small state. Too many handicaps, bottlenecks and deficiencies have been associated with small size, and far too many times. With small size, however, also come some clear advantages: policy measures are typically faster to enact, are national in scope by default, and are quick to show results.

Conclusion Here is another example of a quite unique local architecture. A complete and unadulterated row of two-storeyed maisonettes, consistently adorned with wooden balconies, wooden doors, carefully maintained faÇades, all perched on raised ‘front gardens’, protected by metal gates and railings, that provide an added measure of distance from a busy road: this is Żabbar Road, Paola. Again: no trees; the only organic greenery is provided by some potted plants. The area strikes the eye because there is nowhere else quite like it.

Beauty may be devilishly hard to define: but we all recognise a beautiful thing when we see one. Our small archipelago has a ridiculously high population density: this is, in itself, testimony to its resilient and diversified economy that has weathered many storms (including Covid-19) and now survives and thrives, thanks to inflows of additional imported labour. But the environmental cost is huge.

Street beauty pageants are a gentle reminder that our townscapes are not just inevitable collateral damage to progress. They can and should multiply and recur, in myriad creative ways, across multiple ministries and departments, and with suitable inducements and market signals to stimulate appropriate actions in the private sector, to protect and reward that which we hold dear. Before it is too late.

Meanwhile, which is the most beautiful street in your locality? And: is it hard to decide and determine why? n An earlier version of this article appeared in The Journal of the Institute for Public Services in January 2021. The usual disclaimers apply.

Comments are welcome at: godfrey.baldacchino@um.edu.mt

Street beauty pageants are a gentle reminder that our townscapes are not just inevitable collateral damage to progress.

Godfrey Baldacchino is Professor of Sociology at the University of Malta, Din l-Art Ħelwa Life Member, and Deputy Chair of the Sustainable Development Network since 2020.

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RESTORING

BALANCE BETWEEN PEOPLE AND NATURE

ECOCIDE AND CLIMATE CHANGE IN MALTA

by David Marinelli

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limate Change is the term generally used to describe the global ecological crisis we are facing. The crisis is in fact broader and far more threatening. Climate change is just one consequence of ecocide – the wilful destruction of the natural world. The planet is engulfed in unprecedented volumes of air, land and marine pollution. Biodiversity losses and species extinctions are up to tenthousand-fold of those that would naturally occur.

The collapse of ecosystems that support human and all planetary life is the real crisis.

This crisis is threefold, and is that of pollution, climate change and biodiversity losses resulting in ecosystems degradation and collapse.

Atmospheric and ocean warming are caused by human emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG), such as carbon dioxide and methane. The content of GHG in the atmosphere has increased by more than 50% since pre-industrial times.

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GHG emissions have increased globally year on year, despite numerous international meetings to limit them. The 2015 Paris agreement to reduce GHG emissions, in order to limit the global average temperature increase over preindustrial times to 1.5°C, has failed. The UN IPCC has warned that the 1.5°C threshold will be overshot in the coming few years and that greenwashing and business-asusual will increase this average temperature by 2.7°C with catastrophic consequences. These global average temperature numbers hide the reality of extreme weather.

Rather than decrease by 45%, GHG emissions are heading to increase by 16% by 2030. Moreover there is no plan of how to reduce the GHG already in the atmosphere and oceans. Irreversible feedback loops that are likely to kick off in nature, creating uncontrollable emissions and warming, are only included in scientific studies in the form of probabilities of failure.

This international predicament is reflected in Malta. Whilst it is true that Malta’s contribution to this ecological crisis would not materially affect global outcomes, it is undeniable that the severe degradation of Malta’s ecosystems is seriously impacting our physical and mental health, also causing fatalities.

Malta’s natural environment and biodiversity are under threat of extinction.

The environmental degradation is cumulative and has been intensifying and accelerating in recent decades.

We are well into the Anthropocene, the age of humans, as there is hardly any place on Earth that has not been impacted by human activity. The Anthropocene is characterised by the sixth mass extinction of biodiversity on Earth. People are part of the Earth’s biodiversity. All previous five mass extinctions were mostly caused by geological and volcanic upheavals and meteor strikes each resulting in the extinction of 75% to 96% of all life on the planet. The last one that wiped out the dinosaurs occurred 66 million years ago.

This sixth mass extinction is different, albeit not less lethal, in that it is caused

entirely by humanity’s overexploitation of the natural world. This is an existential threat of global proportions and with serious local implications.

The European Union has echoed the United Nations in its European Green Deal slogan of placing nature at the heart of decision making. Time will tell whether meaningful and sufficient actions will follow the political rhetoric. The lack of political will to act on ecocide remains the single biggest obstacle along the path to a heathier and safer world.

Humanity lives within the collection of planetary ecosystems, also called the biosphere.

The biosphere stretches from the Earth’s core to the outermost reaches of our atmosphere.

It creates and maintains the web of biological life. The web of life sustains people’s lives. It is our universe. There is no life for people, or any other Earth species, outside the biosphere.

Scientists and ecologists have understood the web of life to be made up of ecosystems that exist in dynamic balance. Ecosystems happen in a location but they are not a place. They are the interactions between the water, air, soils and terrestrial, marine and fresh water, aerial and subterranean species that exist within them. Healthy ecosystems are carbon sinks whilst degraded ecosystems are net carbon emitters.

Maltese modern culture, public governance and economic activity based on growth and the overexploitation of our natural spaces have impoverished, degraded and, in too many cases, destroyed most of the islands’ fragile ecological heritage.

It is important to re-establish a balance in nature that still sustains human life and the life of as many as possible of the species that have shared our evolutionary journey so far, before it is too late.

By identifying our islands’ carrying capacities and placing healthy ecosystems at the centre of all personal, corporate and public decision making, there is an opportunity to restore the balance between people and nature in our country. This would create a more equitable society and greater wellbeing. n

David Marinelli is an accountant by profession and a researcher of ecology, wilderness as social order, sustainability, biodiversity, wild habitat degradation, wilding and extinction of species.

Maltese modern culture, public governance and economic activity based on growth and the overexploitation of our natural spaces have impoverished, degraded and, in too many cases, destroyed most of the islands’ fragile ecological heritage.

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INTO

visits Din l-Art Ħelwa

1. Left to right: David Azzopardi, Daniela Cini, Emma Thomas, Catherine Leonard, Albert Attard, Chris Chegwyn.

2. Courtesy visit in Valletta to the Hon Jose Herrera, Minister of Cultural Heritage, the Arts and Local Government.

3. Martin Galea presents Catherine Leonard and Emma Thomas with a copy of the Din l-Art Ħelwa 'Heritage Saved' 50th anniversary publication.

4. During the talk delivered at the Din l-Art Ħelwa offices. Left to right: Martin Galea, Emma Thomas, Catherine Leonard, Simone Mizzi.

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he Secretary General of the International National Trusts Organisation (INTO), Catherine Leonard, together with Emma Thomas, General Manager of Seaton Deleval Hall, a National Trust (UK) heritage property, visited Malta and Gozo at the end of September.

The visit was programmed in collaboration with Din l-Art Ħelwa and organised by Council Member Martin Galea specifically to study the Qbajjar Battery at Marsalforn in Gozo which Din l-Art Ħelwa is hoping to restore and turn into a visitor centre for the area.

During the trip, Catherine and Emma also visited heritage sites held in trust by Din l-Art Ħelwa: Our Lady of Victory church in Valletta, the Msida Bastion Garden of Rest, the Majjistral History and Nature Park, the Red Tower and the White Tower in Mellieha, and Dwejra Tower in Gozo.

Emma gave a talk on the visitor experience at Seaton Deleval Hall, giving examples of the way such sites can be a productive part of the life of a community. While in Valletta, they paid a courtesy visit to the Hon Jose Herrera, Minister for Cultural Heritage, the Arts and Local Government, together with Din l-Art Ħelwa Secretary General Simone Mizzi, and Martin Galea.

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Reciprocal visiting arrangements at INTO sites Din l-Art Ħelwa members enjoy complimentary visiting rights to national trust properties managed by INTO's organisations. For more information visit https://www.into.org/places/.

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LAUNCH OF DIN L-ART ĦELWA GĦAWDEX

at the Gozo Cittadella

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in l-Art Ħelwa Għawdex (DLĦGħ), a new Gozo dedicated branch of Din l-Art Ħelwa, was launched at the Rabat Cittadella in Gozo on 5 June 2021 with a mission to safeguard Gozo’s unique cultural and architectural heritage as well as its natural environment for future generations.

Its founding members are a group of Gozitans together with other residents who chose to set up home in Gozo, part of a growing significant grass roots movement of people perturbed by the avalanche of construction projects and extreme over-development destroying the centuries-old charm, authenticity and attraction of Gozo’s villages and countryside, to the detriment of this and future generations.

Din l-Art Ħelwa Għawdex will act as a pressure group to bring about strong positive change to planning laws and enforcement and act as a watchdog, lobbying authorities and the public for the protection of the landscape and rich architectural legacy of Gozo, stated founding member Godfrey Swain, a former international banker residing in Gozo who added a clear statement that the new board is not an anti-development group but stands for sustainable development and an economic vision that will create long term employment and business opportunities, enhancing Gozo’s heritage and the long term prosperity of the island and its people.

Din l-Art Ħelwa President Professor Alex Torpiano who presided over the launch event stated that the first immediate task is a strong plea to the authorities to take immediate stock of the situation and urgently put in place a series of measures to control the present pace of overdevelopment, allowing the island breathing space to re-assess the long term needs of the island of Gozo. In this respect Din l-Art Ħelwa’s

Gozo branch shares the concerns recently raised by the Gozo regional council together with all Gozitan mayors, straddling all political groupings, as well as key bodies representing Gozo business, tourism and university students.

He stated the three key recommendations as : • A twelve-month moratorium period on all ODZ development applications for residential and industrial use, with some exceptions for genuine agricultural applications up to 12 sqm.

• A twelve-month extension of the current UCA boundaries by 250m to create a new buffer zone enjoying the same level of protection as UCA. • A twelve-month suspension of Annex 2 regulations for the island of Gozo.

Din l-Art Ħelwa Għawdex is sending out a clear warning that without immediate positive action on the three key recommendations the island of Gozo will be lost forever stated founding member and renowned international photographer and publisher Daniel Cilia who called on government and the Planning Authority to review present planning guidelines over the next twelve months. Cilia concluded that the review should be conducted openly in a spirit of co-operation consulting with the public, mayors, NGOs and business bodies with a view to present new guidelines that will chart a new vision for a sustainable Eco-Gozo guaranteeing the integrity of the social, architectural and environmental fabric of the island.

Gozo Regional Council President Samuel Azzopardi was a key guest speaker at the launch event and emphasized the commitment and clear recommendations submitted by the Council with the support of all the Gozitan mayors. n

TO JOIN DIN L-ART ĦELWA GĦAWDEX VISIT HTTPS://DINLARTHELWA.ORG/MEMBERSHIP OR SEND AN EMAIL TO INFO@DINLARTHELWA.ORG.

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ST JEROME BACK IN HIS NICHE at Our Lady of Victory church in Valletta

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he prominent painting of St Jerome at Our Lady of Victory church in Valletta, was happily reinstated into its niche in September 2021, after a year of absence during which repair and restoration was carried out by conservator Amy Sciberras. The restoration of this work of art, organised by Din l-Art Ħelwa, was made possible with the support of PwC Malta. It was planned to coincide with the years of guardianship of the church by Din l-Art Ħelwa, and the start of this phase of restorations in 2012. The conclusion of the restoration of this painting also marked another victory for conservation in September, the month when Victory Day is celebrated throughout the island.

This eighteenth-century painting of St Jerome was found in a neglected state, with its canvas lacerated in parts and sagging at its frame. The saint, renowned for having been the first to translate the Bible into Latin, is seen with his traditional attributes of skull, psalms, stone and horn, and with a brilliant red robe. This work is believed to have been painted in the style of Mattia Preti purposely for its niche in this church.

Present to mark its restoration was David Valenzia, Territory Senior Partner of PwC Malta.

He noted how proud the firm was to see the significant improvements Din l-Art Ħelwa had made over the years to enhance this important church in Valletta. Simone Mizzi, Secretary General of Din l-Art Ħelwa, thanked PwC Malta for their commitment, adding that the example of such a prominent firm as PwC had served as a catalyst to others in the business community ever since 2003 when PwC had first come to the assistance of this church.

Council Member of Din l-Art Ħelwa, Josie Ellul Mercer and the church custodian, Mario Sciberras, along with conservator Amy Sciberras and Din l-Art Ħelwa volunteers, were present together with experts from the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, Cetty Parisi and Yasmin Cassar who assisted in guiding the painting back into place. n

Right: David Valenzia and Din l-Art Ħelwa mark the conclusion of the restoration of St Jerome Far right: St Jerome being raised into place Below: St Jerome back in his niche at Our Lady of Victory church

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Restoration

Report Stanley Farrugia Randon

The Din l-Art Ħelwa Restoration and Maintenance Committee is composed of Maria Grazia Cassar, Josie Ellul Mercer and myself. However our efforts are useless without the help and advice of the rest of the committee.

Without the hard work of our Treasurer Martin Scicluna, Secretary General Simone Mizzi and our Office Manager Rosanne Zerafa, Din l-Art Ħelwa would be unable to obtain the necessary funding for such projects.

W

hen I joined Din l-Art Ħelwa 30 years ago, my first involvement, besides reactivating the Youth Section, was to manage restoration projects. Since then the restoration of properties has become a very complicated matter. Before restoration of a site actually begins, a number of steps have to be followed. First of all, the association has to secure funding from a private entity or perhaps EU funding. In the latter case a load of paperwork has to be prepared.

The sites managed by Din l-Art Ħelwa are mostly scheduled as Grade 1 properties, so their restoration requires a full development permit from the Planning Authority. This involves site visits with architects and contractors, condition reports, method statements, bills of quantities and site plans. Permits take months to be issued and often the Planning Authority and Superintendence of Cultural Heritage request more information. When a commencement notice for works is issued, talks are also held with health and safety officers as this is a legal prerequisite.

These procedures are necessary but also very time consuming especially for us volunteers.

Less than five years ago the Wignacourt Tower in St Paul’s Bay was restored by ERDF funds obtained by the Malta Tourism Authority.

However the lime-based pointing started to weather off after two years and this summer the lower three metres of all four elevations had to be extensively repointed. The facade of the tower lost most of its pointing and more maintenance work had to be conducted including on the upper floor.

Now that the restoration of the White Tower and battery in Mellieħa is complete, the restoration team started planning the installation of toilet facilities and furniture for the place to be used for short lets and accomodation. Thanks to the hard work of Rosanne Zerafa and Simone Mizzi, the restoration team obtained funds from the Post-Pandemic Support Scheme for Cultural Heritage issued by the Ministry for National Heritage, the Arts and Local Government, for two dormitories with beds and cupboards, sanitary facilities, a kitchenette, doors, seating facilities and tables. The tower will now be able to accomodate groups of people who can conduct educational activities.

White Tower

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u Għallis Tower

Din l-Art Ħelwa has been granted GalXlokk Foundation funds to be spent on the restoration of the external façades of Torri Mamo in Marsascala. These will be used entirely for the replacement of grossly deteriorated stonework on the external façades. Din l-Art Ħelwa already has a valid Planning Authority permit and meetings are being held between the architect, contractor and the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage.

Wignacourt Tower restoration works

Għallis tower is one of the thirteen towers built during the reign of Grand Master De Rohan and unfortunately it is no longer a prominent feature on the coast road from Salini to Baħar-iċ-Ċagħaq since a high wall was erected along parts of the road. In 2017 Din l-Art Ħelwa applied to the Planning Authority for the restoration of the external walls of Għallis Tower and we are now in possession of a permit and funds from GalMajjistral Foundation. Restoration will include pointing of the walls and the changing of some stones.

The batteries of the solar panels also need replacement. These are needed to light the external façades as well as the interior of the tower as there is no direct electricity supply to the tower.

u The Mamo Tower

u Msida Bastion Garden of Rest The original entrance to the garden needed urgent attention.

Some stonework needed replacement, pointing, plasticrepair in places, and fibreglass dowels were used to fix stones which were broken but which did not require changing. The metal gate was cleaned to remove loose paint and repainted by volunteers. The gate frame was galvanised and stainless steel fittings used.

PWC student

Ready!!

Almost done Jobplus student

Filling the cracks with sand and hydraulic lime

in p Work

rogress

Before

Before

After

After

Gate still needs to be put back in place

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SUNSETS, OWLS AND DARK SKY NIGHTS

A ‘typical’ Summer at Dwejra Tower in Gozo

by Simon Wallace

It has been a very long, hot summer and the impact of both Covid and the reality of climate change is clearly visible to anyone visiting Gozo.

A

dd in 152 days or so without any rain, peak daytime temperatures nudging 40 degrees, and it was obvious why our visitor numbers were perhaps lower than usual.

Here at Dwejra, we changed the ways we connected with our visitors and community partners. This meant having more of an online/ social media presence, increased video, photo and mobile-friendly content, and by hosting small scale, Covid-compliant events later in the day or evenings, when temperatures were less fierce.

The magic hour One of the many things Dwejra continues to offer our visitors are amazing sunsets, so we began hiring out the tower’s roof-top space for a single group of up to six people per evening.

We provide chairs and cushions and visitors bring along their own refreshments to enjoy the ‘magic hour’ and the panoramic views of Fungus Rock, the Inland Sea and Gozo’s dramatic West coast. These sessions have proved very successful at raising much needed donations and visitor feedback has been very positive.

And to prove there’s nothing like a Dwejra sunset to ‘Lift You Up’ we teamed up with VisitGozo.com and Gozitan DJ Micimago who performed his aptly named video atop Sunset from inside Dwejra Tower Dwejra’s 17th century tower as the colours of sunset lit up the sky.

Watch and listen at https://www.facebook.com/Micimago/ or https://www.facebook.com/VisitGozo/videos/2985654565014087

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Above: A parliament of owls at Dwejra Tower.

Above right: quote from seabird crochet art work on the tower flagpole.

Right: crochet owls detail and quote.

Below: Ta' Sopu Tower under the stars August 2021.

Photo by Alessio Sultana.

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Craft-tastic!

In early July we welcomed #GozoCraftyLadiesKercemBranch, who installed two specially created examples of their amazing multi-coloured crochet work on the tower’s flag pole and roof space. Both art works featured a short poem to accompany flagpole-flying seabirds and a ‘parliament’ of owls – the works have been much enjoyed by our visitors. Learn more about this fantastic community crafting project via their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ groups/264218021132758

Dark Sky evenings Dwejra Tower Volunteers also helped out at two highly successful Dark Sky evenings held in partnership with Din l-Art Ħelwa Għawdex – one at Ta’ Sopu Tower in August for visitors to enjoy the Perseid meteor showers, and a second one at Dwejra Tower in early September to see the magical Milky Way. For photos of Ta’ Sopu tower, please check out the album of images by Alessio Sultana at https://www.facebook.com/ alessio.sultana.56

Simon Wallace is retired and lives in Gozo.

He is an active Din l-Art Ħelwa volunteer at Dwejra Tower.

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Short

NEWS The Climate Emergency

DIN L-ART ĦELWA LAUNCHES

CODE RED

The United Nations has issued a Code Red relating to the climate emergency. The UN General Secretary said there was no time to lose and called all nations to act decisively now if an environmental catastrophe is to be averted.

W

e do not need more evidence that climate change is already with us with fires, heatwaves and flooding occurring throughout the globe at unprecedented levels.

Din l-Art Ħelwa, as an environmental NGO, has taken up the challenge to fight for action at a local level and link up with national and international organizations to do this effectively.

Din l-Art Ħelwa is building up its internal capacity and is calling for students, specialists, scientists as well as interested individuals to form part of a core group to take this forward.

This group will formulate and implement a strategy to lobby for change with government, the business community and all citizens on a national level. They will be able to tap into the international organizations of which Din l-Art Ħelwa forms part and to work with other NGOs in Malta too.

The executive president of Din l-Art Ħelwa, Alex Torpiano, stated: ‘Din l-Art Helwa is a national NGO which already successfully restores and maintains historical properties, manages nature areas, campaigns for better planning policies and land use, as well as for the conservation of our natural and historical patrimony. It now feels it is its duty to take on the issues of climate change, pollution and biodiversity as one of its core missions. We appeal for volunteers to join us in this.’

Those who wish to know more about this core group dedicated to this specific aim are urged to contact us by sending an email to admin@dinlarthelwa.org.

Be a part of the solution – join us now.

Beautiful photos snapped by Tessa Mercieca

CCTV at Torri Xutu

Mark Shrimpton, warden at Torri Xutu, fixing up a CCTV camera at the tower

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Salvatore Mousu

S JOSEPH CALLEJA CHOOSES THE RED TOWER

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enowned tenor Joseph Calleja chose the Red Tower in Mellieha at sunset for his recent interview and recording for a German television travel programme.

Joseph Calleja was greeted by Din l-Art Ħelwa Executive President Alex Torpiano and Council Member Joe Farrugia, and signed the visitors book.

alvatore was a bundle of energy. Although small in stature he was a whirlwind of energy and activity. He loved the country of his birth and continually mined any source that gave insight to its past. He was willing to share this and took great pleasure in talking about aspects of our history and about Din l-Art Ħelwa’s properties in particular.

I am not clear when he joined Din l-Art Ħelwa, but initially it was to lead the tours and lectures which he started and carried out single-handledly. I can see him now leading a group of people around some site, an electric megaphone tucked under his arm, eyes sparkling as he rattled off its history, peppered with anecdotes and small stories which made it so interesting.

An avid researcher, he would spend hours poring over sources to reveal them triumphantly when we next met. He joined the Din l-Art Ħelwa Council and gave his share of sound advice in resolving the many issues we had - and still have - concerning the environment, land use and our restorations including financing them.

The loss of our patrimony which alas we have had so much of, used to hurt him, which of course is why he joined. Never one to shirk work he was always on hand to help, his humour and energy made him a valued member of the team.

To Antonella his wife and his daughter go our sincere condolences.

MARTIN GALEA

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From the

DIN L-ART ĦELWA

A LETTER FROM JOAN DU PLAT TAYLOR

T

here is an interesting letter in the Din l-Art Ħelwa archives from Joan Mabel Frederica du Plat Taylor, dated 12 April 1967. Joan du Plat Taylor (1906-83) was born in Glasgow into a military family. She was brought up in Cyprus and was heavily involved in the archaeological scene from a very young age. She had no formal training but became well known for her work and writings on Cypriot archaeology.

After the war she was appointed librarian to the Institute of Archaeology, University College, London and took an interest in underwater archaeology. Although not a keen active diver herself, she was in charge of many nautical expeditions of the period. A good friend of Honor Frost, they were early promoters of the committee for Nautical Archaeology at the Institute and edited the definitive book Marine Archaeology published in 1965.

John Woods, leader of the Imperial College team, acknowledged her as an invaluable adviser to their 1961 Malta expedition at Xlendi. There is also correspondence between du Plat Taylor and Olof Gollcher at the archives of the Palazzo Falson Historic House Museum.

The Din l-Art Ħelwa letter is addressed to Vera Greer, a keen supporter and activist for Din l-Art Ħelwa and who probably hosted her at ‘San Clemente’, her home at the foot of Saqqaja Hill in Rabat. Vera Greer was a prominent British resident in Malta, involved in conservation and the mother of the author Dame Penelope Lively.

It is interesting to keep in mind that Honor Frost investigated the Mellieha Bay wreck later in 1967 but this April letter was written earlier and there is no mention of the Mellieha wreck in it. She enclosed two photographs of sites mentioned in her letter.

ARCHI

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VES

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By George E. Camilleri

12th April 1967 My dear Mrs. Greer, During my most enjoyable visit to you, I was most interested, from the point of view of maritime archaeology, in exploring the bays and creeks around the island.

These must have been used as harbours in ancient times, as they are used by fishermen now. The cuttings, steps and tanks on the rock platforms do not seem to have been studied and it would appear to me to be an urgent matter to do this before they are covered of necessity as at Wied-es-Zurrieg and Ghar Lapsi, by modern quays. Others, as Gnejna, where there are rock cut bollards, steps and tie-holes might be protected.

Elsewhere I am informed there are Roman quays, and the remains of ancient harbour works in Salena Bay, which I feel should be recorded and explored before they are lost beneath modern development.

The ancient rock-cut salt pans continue a system which was certainly before Roman times, and may cease to work when the modern desalination plant comes into use. Some, as at Delimara Pt., should be preserved.

My committee, as you know, are concerned with the recording and preservation of all matters pertaining to maritime archaeology, including finds from underwater. Maltese waters have already yielded interesting types of old anchors, as well as pottery, which are in the museum and private collections.

Doubtless many more underwater sites are yet to be found. This aspect of the archaeological heritage in Malta, as in other countries, is only beginning to be studied, so if my committee can help Din L’Art Helwa in any way towards the preservation of the Maltese coastal sites, please call on us and we shall be happy to do so.

With best wishes for the work of Din L’Art Helwa.

Two photographs enclosed with the letter from Joan du Plat Taylor, 1967

Yours very sincerely, J. du Plat Taylor.

Secretary.

George Camilleri is a retired dental surgeon and former dean of the Faculty of Dental Surgery at the University of Malta. He is now researching the history of dentistry in Malta and is a volunteer archivist at Din l-Art Ħelwa.

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People George Iles My role within Din l-Art Ħelwa is as warden of the chapel of Santa Marija ta’ Bir Miftuh in Gudja.

I am a friend of the previous incumbent, with a similar background (retired British Army). I had been interested in doing voluntary work in the charitable sector and when my predecessor intimated in mid 2018 that he was giving up the wardenship, I threw my hat into the ring. Happily, I was successful and took over the reins in May 2018.

The greatest satisfaction and enjoyment in the role is meeting the wide variety of visitors, giving a potted history of the chapel and sharing an interest in the cultural heritage of Malta.

In addition, the involvement with other entities, both commercial and not-for-profit, that use the chapel has also been great fun. It would be remiss not to mention here the pleasure in meeting and interacting with the officers and other volunteers at Din l-Art Ħelwa.

Looking forward, the events I anticipate most keenly is the restarting of the Bir Miftuh Music Festivals hopefully, covid allowing, in 2022.

Joe Busietta It was always my wish to join a voluntary organisation, and particularly one that is heritage-centred, for a variety of reasons but especially the opportunity to give something back to the community.

I introduced an automated Stock Inventory Register for all Din l-Art Ħelwa publications, branded products and cards that are at the offices in Melita Street in Valletta, and at the heritage sites managed by Din l-Art Ħelwa.

This is a requisite by our external auditors.

This system tracks the publications, branded products and cards sold and provides the monetary value of stock on a monthly basis at each site. Moreover, the Stock Inventory ensures there is enough material to meet demand without creating overstock or excess levels.

I also established a Statistical Data Base – a regulatory requirement by the National Statistics Office and the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage.

This involves extensive input by the wardens of the various sites which is provided through their monthly reports. This data base helps in providing a better understanding and accurate description, planning and movement of each site on a monthly basis.

My role is to actively keep both the Stock Inventory as well as the Statistical Data Base updated – this has been ongoing for the past 12 years at the Valletta offices and online. Both processes were put in place with the full involvement, cooperation and support of all the wardens, who also accept occasional changes and updates that are required from time to time.

It would be ideal to make the general public more aware of the many informative Din l-Art Ħelwa heritage publications, and to take part in the annual Book Fair at MFCC to sell our books.

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Anthony Mangion My very close ties with Ħal Millieri, as warden of the medieval chapel of the Annunciation, reach back to my university student days in the late sixties when the newly founded Din l-Art Ħelwa with its very active youth section had embarked on the rehabilitation and subsequent restoration of the chapel and its environs. Ħal Millieri is one of the lost medieval hamlets of Malta which emerged sometime in the thirteenth century on the site of an abandoned Roman farmstead that had survived into Byzantine times. Its chapel was rebuilt in the mid-fifteenth century and is decorated with a unique set of hieratic mural paintings which give added splendour to this prime heritage site.

It was in the 1970s, through the personal insistence of the late Judge Maurice Caruana Curran, that I took over as chapel curator following its clean-up and accessibility to the public. His infective enthusiasm and his love for this beautiful chapel, which as his first project he had so very much at heart, were the stimulant and inspiration that have kept me going through my five decades of volunteer guardianship with Din l-Art Ħelwa. Throughout these years I have followed closely the vicissitudes of the Ħal Millieri chapel, including the restoration of its frescoe cycle in 1974 and the exciting archeological dig that has shed light on that medieval settlement. At Ħal Millieri I have met international art connoisseurs and officials from world famous restoration centres, many VIPs, and a veritable legion of visitors, both foreign and local, whom I always have the pleasure of accompanying on informative tours of the site. My years at Ħal Millieri have also brought their share of adversity. Past acts of vandalism, conservation problems impacting the church fabric and its frescoes, damage from heavy storms, and the passing away of good friends of Ħal Millieri have punctuated my volunteer work, but this has never dimmed my enthusiasm and determination to continue with the good work. In the early days of Din l-Art Ħelwa I was also a member of the Ħal Millieri and Birmiftuħ Trust, an ad hoc committee that was responsible for the guardianship of the two medieval chapels which had been entrusted to Din l-Art Ħelwa through public deed by the Maltese church authorities.

Due to climatic considerations that impinge on the fragility of the frescoes, and to help maintain a controlled environment, the Ħal Millieri chapel is open regularly on the first Sundays of the month; but throughout the year I am often asked to cater for special requests by individuals or particular groups. I also organize the annual open day that coincides with the traditional religious service on the feast of the Annunciation in late March. My work at Ħal Millieri, which I visit on a quasi-daily basis, includes the close monitoring of the chapel and its frescoe paintings, maintenance work on the chapel and its garden with the assistance of friends and helpers, and regular liasion with the Din l-Art Ħelwa office. I am also currently endeavouring to bring together a small team of dedicated volunteers who would be able to continue offering their services in the future. My volunteer work has now spilled beyond the Annunciation chapel, and very often I find myself representing the whole area of Ħal Millieri with the Żurrieq local council, and also assisting with the upkeep of the nearby chapel of St John the Evangelist.

Looking back over my past five decades of volunteer service at Ħal Millieri I can truly say that the experience has been most rewarding, and I look forward to more years of guardianship of the chapel. I also take much pride from the fact that my volunteer work forms part of the coordinated efforts of a larger Din l-Art Ħelwa team that gallantly spearheads the protection of our natural and cultural heritage.

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Mattia Preti’s ST MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL’S VICTORY OVER EVIL

RESTORED

D

in l-Art Ħelwa has reached another milestone in its efforts to safeguard Malta’s artistic heritage. Taking advantage of the relaxing of Covid restrictions this summer, Giuseppe Mantella Restauri were finally able to complete the restoration of the seventh and last painting by Mattia Preti, at Sarria Church, ‘St Michael the Archangel’s Victory over Evil’ Thanks to the financial support offered

by Sparkasse Bank Malta, the work has been completed and the lunette returned to its place high up on the left below the cupola as one enters the circular Sarria Church in Floriana.

Of the seven paintings present in this unique building, this presented the most

serious challenges. Prior to the restoration, multi-disciplined diagnostic analysis and 3D surveying had to be carried out with the collaboration of the University of Malta and universities in Italy.

In the painting, the archangel wears the robes of a knight of the Order of Malta. He is accompanied by a host of angels defying the crowd of devils. It is a representation of the victory of all that is good over evil.

This church and its paintings were a thanksgiving pledge by Grand Master Nicolas Cotoner to the Immaculate Conception and the Saints for the release of Malta from the plague of 1676. n

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LEGACIES

Karmen Micallef Buhagiar Marjorie de Wolff Anne Crosthwait Major Nestor Jacono - The Agapi Trust Gita Furber de la Fuente

BENEFACTORS

Anne and John Cachia Zoe and the late Pierre Chomarat Heribert Grünert Anthony Guillaumier Albert Mamo Peter Mamo and family Chevalier Joseph Micallef Matthew Mizzi Dr John Vassallo and Dr Marianne Noll Dr Ingrid Vella Robert von Brockdorff Nicola Woodward

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VIGILO D I N L - A R T Ħ E LWA

The National Trust of Malta

Din l-Art Ħelwa 133 Melita Street, Valletta VLT 1123

T: +356 21225952 E: info@dinlarthelwa.org WWW.DINLARTHELWA.ORG Like our Facebook page and join the group Follow us on Twitter