“The restoration of this façade is yet another example of the importance of conserving our heritage. Our commitment is to keep ensuring that our heritage and our historic sites are restored and given their due glory in the best way possible through specific schemes that are designed for this purpose. Our localities are full of significant sites and monuments and we are dedicated to preserve them,” Minister for Justice, Culture and Local Government Owen Bonnici observed yesterday.

The façade of the Old Parish Church was deteriorating and had damages such as powdering, a type of deterioration visible on external walls, missing stonework which had been dismantled in time, soiling of the upper areas of the façade, cracks brought about by rusting of metal fixtures and back weathering on the lower courses of the façade.

The works carried out by the Restoration Directorate within the Ministry for Justice, Culture and Local Government included cleaning with the use of nylon brushes, water and hand tools of all metal inserts in various parts of the façade and from black deposits and biological growth. The two steeples were reconstructed partly by using existing stone voussoirs that were still on the roof of the church, whilst stones had to be replaced from the lower area of the façade due to back weathering. The whole façade was then consolidated by pointing where needed, whilst the main door of the church was restored with rotten wooden parts removed and new elements fixed to the old structure, and missing areas were newly manufactured.

This project took around eight months to be completed.

All of this was possible thanks to the ‘Restoration Works Scheme for Local Councils, launched in 2015 on an annual basis, from which 10 localities have already benefited through the years.