Cities Entertainment Ltd, operators of The Great Siege of Malta and the Knights of St John, donated over 400 books to the libraries of 32 state, independent and church schools from all over Malta, during a presentation held at their premises in the Café Premier Complex in Valletta.

During this scholastic year, over 2,000 students have visited this multi-million euro attraction, which was established with the aim of operating places of historical interest to promote cultural and heritage themes.

Director of Libraries and Archives Philip Borg, who presided over the presentation, explained that the company runs a scheme whereby 10c from every specially-priced entrance ticket for schoolchildren goes towards a fund for an annual book donation.

He praised this initiative, which is intended to add to cultural and educational development in the school’s curriculum, and said that the scheme should be copied by others.

The Libraries and Archives Department operates 58 public libraries around the island. The general public can now access the libraries’ catalogue online from most regional and branch libraries, free of charge. “Statistics show that the public’s interest in borrowing books from these libraries is on the increase. It is now clearly evident that modern technology continues to complement an interest in reading books”, Mr Borg concluded.

Cities Entertainment Ltd general manager Gaetano Avallone reaffirmed his organisation’s social commitment towards the community, especially towards the development of schoolchildren’s knowledge of Maltese history. “We are in the process of launching a public awareness campaign for the public to promote the historical affinity of our action-packed 45 minute walk-through attraction.”

More information about this attraction is available on http://www.greatsiege.com.mt