Heritage Malta will be commemorating World Environment Day with special events at the National Museum of Natural History in Mdina’s Vilhena Palace on Sunday. The national agency for cultural heritage will be packing this day with three normal tours of the museum, three behind-the-scenes tours and three hours of fun activities and story telling for children.

The three behind-the-scenes guided tours will visit areas of the Vilhena Palace normally closed to visitors. These tours start at 9am, 11am and 2pm and only 20 adults will be allowed to join each tour. Pre-booking of tickets at the cost of Lm2.50 per person is therefore necessary.

Normal tours of the museum will take place at 9.30am, 11.30am and 2.30pm at the reduced price of 50c per person. Children under the age of 10 can join for free. A maximum of 30 participants will be allowed on each tour so pre-booking of tickets for these tours is also required.

Children can in the meantime enjoy pottery making, drawing and listen to stories about Malta of the past in the museum’s internal courtyard. Naturalist Guido Lanfranco will describe what Malta was like when he was child, as well as talk about the kind of toys he used to play with. Only 25 children aged between 7 and 12 will be allowed to participate so pre-booking for places at the price of 50c is essential. The activities will last from 09:30 to 12:30.

World Environment Day, commemorated each year on 5 June, is one of the principal vehicles through which the United Nations stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and enhances political attention and action. The World Environment Day theme selected for 2006 is “Deserts and Desertification”. Desertification is becoming an increasingly worrying situation in the African continent.

For further information and to book tickets call Heritage Malta’s Head Office on 2295 4312.