In the past week, we have heard two very contrasting stories of how we are conserving and restoring our heritage – or destroying it.
But before going into specifics, it must be said that Malta has moved ahead in leaps and bounds when it comes to restoring monuments, churches, paintings, palaces, wartime fortifications and a whole myriad of other things.
True, we are a country that has started to develop very rapidly, but every corner one turns in our old cities, there is something to see. Some people say that Rome is like that, but once again we are guilty of selling ourselves short. There is a whole hidden wealth of history on this island and Gozo too. Even Comino is steeped in history for that matter.
Even walks in the countryside unearth such treasures as Neolithic temples, cart ruts, gun posts, pill boxes, catacombs, grottos, caves, escape routes and God knows what else. There is so much on two small specks of rock in the Mediterranean.
Anyhow, as mentioned, we have started to restore many pieces of history. Some are grandiose projects, such as the restoration of the Italian Chapel in St John's co-Cathedral and others are smaller, such as the restoration of the parish door in Naxxar.
What is even more promising is that while the bulk of restoration is funded by the government, there are also many NGOs and even more importantly, commercial entities such as banks that embark on such projects.
However, there are still very many small pieces of history around Malta and Gozo that are going to waste – old mill houses, pillboxes, gun posts and all manner of others. It is of course hard to keep up with these projects, but we must point out that we do not realize the importance of these monuments when they are still standing. We only miss them when they are gone – eroded by the elements, vandalism, car accidents and various other types of calamities.
True, such projects are expensive and they also involve a lot of specialized labour that is sadly in short supply. Also, we need the people of Malta and Gozo to realise the importance of such monuments. Of course, there was outrage when Portes des Bombes was vandalized and very rightly so. But what about Selmun fort being vandalized time after time? Perhaps not everyone feels the same about historical buildings. Some people lose themselves in time. Others think they are just grand buildings to look at. Others still are more indifferent, but we do need to instill a sense of conserving our history – it is part of our very social fabric – what we see in front of our eyes was built hundreds and in some cases, thousands of years ago and it is still all part of our lives.
Which brings us to the two cases in question – the MMA recently put Lm13,000 towards the restoration of the Delimara lighthouse, which is a great gesture.
However, just yesterday a Sliema house dating back to 1728 was about to be demolished and was only temporarily saved from its fate due to a mistake by the developer who did not submit a notice of commencement of works as was laid down in the permit. Work will commence once he does so. The Mepa on the other hand said it can do nothing because the appeals board is an independent body. Asked what will happen if the appeal to stop the works is granted, this newspaper was told that the developer will be obliged to restore things to the way they were. Please explain to us, how can a developer turn back the clock to 1728? This is a loophole that must be looked into and changed because it is absolutely senseless. This is one of the oldest buildings in Sliema – those who are supposed to be responsible for safeguarding our heritage should get their finger out and do whatever they can in order to set things right.