Valletta, our capital city, is also a World Heritage City, meaning that it is protected and considered by UNESCO as being one of the historical gems in the world. As I walk through the city I realise what a gem it truly is. The intricacy of the buildings, the awe-inspiring law courts, the many churches and the narrow streets all contribute to the uniqueness of our capital city. I make my way to the old University Buildings in Merchants Street, which now houses Heritage Malta. Christine Buttigieg interviewed PIERRE CASSAR, manager of public programmes for Heritage Malta

Can you explain the function of Heritage Malta?

Firstly, let me outline the development that led to the creation of Heritage Malta. Heritage Malta is the national agency entrusted with the management of state museums and sites. We are responsible for 33 museums and sites, some 20 of which are open to the public on a daily basis with the exception of five days in the year; Christmas Day, Christmas Eve, New Year’s Day, New Year’s Eve and Good Friday. Other than that these sites are open seven days a week, from 9am to 5pm, including public holidays.

Originally the museums’ department ran the state museums, which were part of the civil service. In 2002, Parliament enacted the Cultural Heritage Act which paved the way for a national agency, Heritage Malta. At present we are also in the process of taking over what used to be the Malta Centre for Restoration. This is now known as Heritage Malta Bighi Office. This office is responsible for restoration and academic courses in this very specialised field.

Heritage Malta has developed from the former Museums Department. What brought about the development of Heritage Malta?

It was also the political vision to have a new agency to introduce efficiency in the sector. Up to a few years ago our museums used to close at 1.30pm and this doesn’t make sense when an average of 1.2 million visitors come to our sites annually. Also, when catering for the tourism market, there is no way you can get away with closing at 1.30pm.

In what ways do you think the public’s perception of our islands’ heritage has changed over the years?

I think that along the years there has been more awareness amongst the public regarding the uniqueness of what we have, particularly our megalithic temples. Despite Malta’s small size we have three listings in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Valletta is one of them, the Hal-Saflieni Hypogeum has a stand-alone listing, and the megalithic temples of Malta and Gozo are grouped in another listing. Technically this is what we have to offer to the hundreds and thousands of tourists who visit our island. Sea and sand can be found anywhere in the Mediterranean but the megalithic temples are unique to our islands.

Let’s get back to the public’s perception of our heritage. The turning point came in early 2003, if I’m not mistaken, when acts of vandalism were committed on the Mnajdra temples. Here we realised that our cultural heritage was at risk and that eventually led to a specific focus by the government to protect these sites and to basically bring them to the top of the agenda in cultural heritage. Nowadays we have a lot of interest from schoolchildren and we believe that if we invest in children we will be on the right track to safeguarding our heritage.

What type of activities is Heritage Malta aiming for children?

We are currently investing in a number of incentives for schoolchildren, one of them being at the Inquisitor’s Palace. We have part financed a project together with UNESCO whereby we have produced a publication, aimed at schoolteachers, which lists a number of educational activities that teachers can conduct at the Inquisitor’s Palace in order for kids to get a better understanding of the Inquisition in Malta.

This includes a role-play. For kids aged 10 to 12 it’s a great experience to actually go to the Inquisitor’s Palace and to sit down where the Inquisitor used to sit. It has proven to be quite popular with schoolchildren. We are trying to introduce something similar at Ghar Dalam where we hope to have an excavation pit where children can actually dig up some small skeletons that we will bury. We will also soon introduce an essay competition with the theme being our megalithic temples. All organised school visits for children under the age of 12 are free.

After the acts of vandalism carried out on our temples has Heritage Malta taken any action to prevent this from happening again?

Yes, definitely. Security was stepped up in practically all sites with specific focus on the megalithic temples because we believe that what happened was a disgrace to society. Not just to local society but to international society at large. We are currently in the process of stepping up security not just through human resources but also through technology. But these things do come at a price and our budget is quite limited. So we have to establish priorities and our priority at the moment is to upgrade our sites while making them more accessible to the public.

What do you think spurs people to commit such acts of vandalism on our megalithic temples?

This is a difficult question to answer. You have to keep in mind that the Mnajdra temples are situated in a desolate part of the island so it is probably easier to conduct an act of vandalism there rather than in a city or town. It is very difficult to identify the cause of why people engage in such acts of violence. If there is no actual proof, then it’s very difficult to nail someone.

What is the tourist-Maltese ratio in terms of visits to such sites?

I would say that about 75 per cent of the visitors are tourists and 25 per cent are locals. However during the past two years we have experienced an increase in the number of locals visiting our sites. This is strange because we have abolished the policy to give locals free admission to our sites on the last Sunday of the month.

We carried out some basic research and discovered that this was not as popular as it was thought to be. Rather than just giving free admission, a more holistic event is organised every three months where people still enter free of charge but they experience a more enhanced visit of the site or museum. An example of this is the Roman Domus, which was formerly known as the Roman Villa.

After three years of extensive refurbishment the site is now fully accessible to people with special needs. Secondly there was a specific focus on dissemination of information. This museum has interpretation panels carrying information in Maltese and English and translations in six other languages. We have also recently introduced guided tours at no extra cost in all our sites.

Do you think that these levels will change?

In a dynamic society trends will always change. I don’t think they will change drastically but definitely they will change. A concrete example is the new price system we introduced in 2004 for some of our sites. We upped the tariff on selected sites that are unique to our islands. Hypothetically an increase in tariff would mean a decrease in visitors but what actually happened was a rise in the number of visitors going to these selected sites. This proves the point that people are willing to pay money for a good product and a good service. Ultimately Heritage Malta exists because we have to offer a service to customers.

What is your favourite historical spot or museum on our islands?

My favourite museum would probably be the Inquisitor’s Palace. The Inquisitor’s Palace has witnessed a very sharp increase in visitors for one simple reason. For the past 15 months we have had a selection of eerie objects relating to torture brought over from San Giuliano in Italy. The name of this exhibition is called The Art of Pain and this has proved to be so popular with the public. Some of the objects are authentic. Although the topic is a bit gory it has proven to be extremely popular and the exhibition has been extended until December 2005.

Do you think that Malta’s rich historical and cultural background is reflected in modern Maltese art and literature?

Yes, definitely I think there are some upcoming artists who have a particular liking to archaeology because of the megalithic temples. It is interesting that people, particularly foreigners, request to have private meditation sessions in the temples. They believe that the temples have a strong spiritual aura and they travel from all over the world to experience this. Some local artists have made it a point to focus their themes and works on the rich archaeological past of our islands.

Does Heritage Malta take an interest in today’s Maltese art which will become tomorrow’s past?

Yes we do want to invest in contemporary art, to the extent that, although there are no concrete plans yet, Heritage Malta hopes in the years to come to inaugurate a museum dedicated to contemporary Maltese art. The National Museum of Fine Arts regularly hosts art exhibitions by local artists and the hallway in the Old University Buildings is also used for exhibitions of upcoming artists.

St James Cavalier is facing financial difficulties. Why do you think this is so?

It is very difficult to make money out of culture. Unfortunately a lot of people have not realised that culture as any other thing comes at a cost and the maintenance of a historical place runs up to hundreds and thousands of pounds. Many locals are willing to dig deep into their pockets to pay for cinemas, theme parks and other forms of entertainment but they are a bit reluctant to pay the equivalent for something that relates to culture or history. I think we have to tackle the misconception that culture should come for free. The government does subsidise culture to a large extent but we still need to make sure that we generate some money so it can be re-invested within the organisation itself. I think that most institutions working in the cultural sphere experience financial hardships at one point or another.

What events can we expect from Heritage Malta in the coming months?

As we know Malta will be hosting the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting event in November and we have lined up a number of events to coincide with the occasion. One of them is that for the first time ever, at the National Museum of Archaeology we are going to have an exhibition titled Faces of Prehistory. We are going to exhibit all the authentic artifacts depicting faces side by side with blow-ups of the original artifact. I think this exhibition will be well received by the general public.

Other exhibitions include Lord Nelson at the Maritime Museum, which is scheduled to open on 10 October. Also on the 10 October we are holding the second international conference titled Maritime Heritage and Tourism. Another exhibition, The Coinage of the Crusades, opens at the National Museum of Archaeology. I think this is a keenly awaited exhibition, particularly for those people who are interested in the crusades.

There is also going to be an interesting exhibition at head office on Ugolini. Over and above this we still have other events where we provide people with pre-admission or discounted admission to selected sites together with guided tours. More often than not these events coincide with national holidays or a specific day of the month. We plan to introduce a membership scheme in the very near future. This allows patrons to have unlimited access to our museums, apart from the Hal-Saflieni Hypogeum. We trust that this incentive will be well met by the local market. Eventually there will also be a volunteer scheme where we will ask people with some free time on their hands to provide their services for free. This will be implemented in some museums and this will help us with issues like custodianship, access to information and the like.