The Malta Maritime Museum is holding a unique event, Qatt ma Ninsa, today. Members of the public who have any memorabilia or tales to tell related to the sea are invited to share them.
Launching the initiative on Friday, Valletta 2018 Foundation Chairman Jason Micallef explained, “Through Qatt ma Ninsa, the public will become the protagonist while we will take a step back and become the audience.”
Qatt ma Ninsa (I never forget) is being organised by the Valletta 2018 Foundation in collaboration with Heritage Malta at the Malta Maritime Museum. The stories people will share will be recorded and can be the inspiration for works of art that will form part of the cultural programme for Valletta 2018.
A group of experts from various fields of work and study will also be on hand at the museum throughout the day to explain the exhibitions on display, photograph the objects brought in by the public, record the anecdotes related to them, and in the process compiling a database of collective memory.
Stories shared may end up being the inspiration for a song, a play or even a contemporary dance piece as part of Valletta 2018’s cultural programme of events.
Also speaking on Friday, Minister for Justice, Culture and Local Government Owen Bonnici explained that national treasures are not only made of tangible and precious objects, but are also in the form of the stories and anecdotes passed down from generation to generation. Such stories, he said, form the identity of a people, and it is important that they are not lost in the mists of time.
He also said that he has taken this initiative personally to heart, not only because he believes in its cause but also because it forms part of the government’s electoral manifesto. The government, he said, believes in the concept of oral history, and Vittoriosa is the ideal place where to start such a project.
Heritage Malta Chairman Joseph Buttigieg explained that Qatt ma Ninsa builds on an annual event that takes place at the Malta Maritime Museum called ‘Life at Sea’, which is in its ninth edition.
The exhibition will include displays of: the largest Roman anchor ever found; ‘The Maltese sailor and Charles Dickens’; ‘The Dead Man’s Penny’; a 1920s photo album and camera; ‘A dollhouse for Myrtle’; ‘The barber to the royals’; ‘A Maltese boat for an admiral’; ‘Dockyard memories’; ‘Lampuki pie’; and ‘Malta’s evolving maritime history’.
The museum will burst into life today with re-enactments, period food and military parades, offering visitors a complete experience of life at sea in olden times. The event will run from 9am to 5pm.