Heritage Malta unveiled the new Hagar Qim and Mnajdra interpretation panels on Thursday. The launch was attended by Minister for Tourism and Culture Francis Zammit Dimech, Dr Mario Tabone, chairman of Heritage Malta, Martin Galea, president of Din l-Art Helwa, Ray Bugeja and Victor Aquilina, present and past editors of The Times, respectively.

They have been working together on a campaign to raise funds for the restoration and conservation of the archaeological park of Hagar Qim and Mnajdra.

The campaign was started four years ago by The Times, together with Din l-Art Helwa and Heritage Malta, following the vandal attacks on the temples in 2001.

The funds raised reached Lm25,000 which enabled Heritage Malta and Din L-Art Helwa to carry out a number of projects, from educational projects to further conservation programmes.

The installation of interpretation panels at Hagar Qim and Mnajdra temples is one of the results of this campaign.

Twenty-five of them have been put all around the site.

The four panels on the pathway between the two temples were directly financed by Din l-Art Helwa. The other 21 were put up by Heritage Malta – 11 at Hagar Qim and 10 at Mnajdra.

They all provide historical and general information on the site, the environs of the temples and the temples themselves. At the moment they are written in English and Maltese but they should soon be available in French, German, Spanish and Italian as well.

Dr Tabone said more than 200,000 people visit the site every year but Heritage Malta hopes to attract more visitors thanks to the panels, which should make the visit more interesting and more understandable.

He also announced that by 2008 further projects would be implemented on the archaeological park. Heritage Malta plans to build a visitor centre on the site and install protective shelters on both structures in order to better protect them from the elements.

He added that this future project falls under EU structural funding programme for environmental and cultural conservation. Heritage Malta has received EURO3.5 million from this fund. It should be a good start to start implementing its projects.